TvN drama 'Rose Mansion' criticized for animal abuse scene

In this screenshot uploaded by Korea Animal Rights Advocates (KARA) on Instagram, a cat is attacked by a man with a knife in the fourth episode of "Rose Mansion," which aired on tvN, May 13. Screenshot from KARA's Instagram

By Kwak Yeon-soo

The production team for tvN's drama, "Rose Mansion," apologized over allegations that a cat was abused during filming.

It has been under fire since the Korea Animal Rights Advocates (KARA) raised questions of animal abuse, addressing the scene from the fourth episode of the series aired on May 13 where a man stabs and kills a stray cat.

"The cat appears several times in the scene and it is unclear which was shot with the real cat and which was CGI (computer-generated imagery)," KARA wrote on Instagram, Wednesday. "Animal abuse crimes are getting crueler and many cats are actually killed in real life ... it is unnecessarily sensational to show such a scene of abuse in detail in a drama," it said, adding that the act of killing and the sounds were too clearly described.

Regarding the row, the production team apologized but denied any actual abuse during the filming.

"No abuse took place during the shooting. Due to technical limitations such as CGI, we used a real-life cat that was trained for the scene. An animal expert took measures to keep the cat safe. However, we apologize for causing such trouble and making viewers uncomfortable," tvN said in a statement posted on Instagram the same day.

"We have decided to delete the problematic scene from the episode and upload the episode again on the streaming service. We will also abide by the government's new guidelines on animal safety and safeguard animal rights in the future," the production team added.

In January, Korea Broadcasting System apologized after a running horse was tripped by a rope causing it to plunge head-first onto the ground, during the filming of historical drama "The King of Tears, Lee Bang-won." The injured horse died about a week later.

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