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It was hard to imagine impeached South Korean president Park Geun-Hye could get any more unpopular — until she vacated the presidential palace and left her nine dogs behind.
Just days after being removed from office by the Constitutional Court over a massive corruption scandal, an animal rights group accused Ms Park of animal abandonment for not bringing the dogs with her.
Ms Park's neighbours had given her a pair of Jindo dogs, a Korean breed of hunting dogs, when she initially left for the presidential palace — also known as the Blue House — in 2013.
The dogs recently gave birth to seven puppies, which are currently too young to be separated from their mother, Blue House spokesman Kim Dong-jo said.
He said the dogs would continue to stay at the presidential palace until they were ready to be sent to new owners.
Kim Ae Ra, who heads the Korea Alliance for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said the group filed a complaint with South Korea's Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission over Ms Park's dogs.
It is unclear whether Ms Park not taking the dogs with her qualifies as abandonment under South Korea's animal protection law, which defines lost or abandoned animals as those "wandering without an owner in public places" or "left deserted in paper boxes or other containers".
Ms Park's decision to leave the dogs behind touched off a heated reaction from dog lovers, who flooded social media with angry remarks.
Last year the ousted leader faced months of mounting unpopularity and protests, culminating in South Korea's Parliament passing an impeachment motion against Ms Park in December.
Prosecutors plan to question her next week over suspicions that she colluded with a friend to extort money and favours from companies and allowed the friend to secretly interfere with state affairs.
The Government has announced that an election will be held on May 9 to pick her successor.
AP
Topics: world-politics, animal-welfare, animals, korea-republic-of