JBJ Kim Yongguk Under Fire For Abandoning His Mutt Cat For A Purebreed
Former JBJ member Kim Yongguk, who was recently in the spotlight for his dating scandal with SONAMOO’s Nahyun, has been under fire for abandoning his cat and more.
This is Rcy (left) and Tolby (right). They are the two cats that Kim Yongguk brought with him to the dorm when he began his activities as a member of JBJ.
He had even appeared on a cat-themed online variety program with these two cats.
On July 27, a photo of a Korean shorthair cat first appeared on a shelter’s online cafe. The post indicated that the cat, which looked almost identical to Rcy, loved people and didn’t seem like a stray cat as it was very clean.
“She tends to talk a lot, loves people and is very sweet. We assumed she lived somewhere in the villa but her owner has not shown up. She has a smooth coat.”
Then on September 15, another shelter posted images of what looked like the same cat, stating that the cat was found on the streets but didn’t seem like a stray cat as it followed people around and was very sweet.
Fans have compared images of the cat and Kim Yongguk’s Rcy, claiming that the cat was most certainly Rcy.
They have also pointed out that Rcy had gotten noticeably thinner and smaller when she was found on the streets in September, compared to when she was living with Kim Yongguk.
Because she was not yet even a full-grown cat, the shelter who took her in assumed that she wasn’t spayed and went ahead with the procedure. It later turned out that she had already been spayed, meaning she had undergone the same procedure twice.
Her ear was later marked by the shelter to show that she had already been spayed.
The administrator of the shelter’s online cafe shared several posts of the cat, stating that the cat loved people and had a sweet personality and due to her sweet nature, the shelter had named her Aljjang.
“Aljjang is looking for a family. By the looks of her sweet personality and love towards humans, she was most likely abandoned. After following us around, she was eventually put into a cage. We want to find her a good home and keep her safe. She is a female less than 1 year old and has been spayed”
“Aljjang who is looking for her owner by herself on Chuseok holiday”
A fan, who saw the posts, apparently contacted JBJ’s agency and soon after, the administrator who shared the posts announced that a person who seemed to be its owner had come to pick her up.
Fans have assumed that after the agency was notified of the cat on September 25, an employee of the company went to the shelter on the 28th to pick her up.
All the while, there was no mention of Kim Yongguk in regard to the issue and the idol had apparently even gone on a vacation around this time, which he continued to share on his SNS.
“I’m back✈”
Meanwhile, Kim Yongguk began posting more and more photos of his newly adopted Norwegian Forest cat, Gagu, on his Instagram account.
He continued to share photos of his other cats as well, but fans began to notice that from some point on, Rcy was missing in all of the them. The last photo of Rcy that was shared on Kim Yongguk’s Instagram was on May 7.
When fans began to ask about Rcy, saying that they missed her, Kim Yongguk and his agency posted photos of Rcy but had cropped out her ears. Fans assume this is to hide the shelter’s stamp on her ear.
In an official statement released on October 10, JBJ’s agency, Choon Entertainment, told their story of what happened to Kim Yongguk’s cat.
“Kim Yongguk adopted Gagu in June and joined Tolbi and Rcy at the dormitory. However, Gagu and Rcy did not get along and therefore, Kim Yongguk had decided to put Rcy up for adoption. After Rcy was adopted, he tried to contact the new owner but was not able to reach them. He was very worried and it wasn’t until September 25 that he found out the cat had run away from its new owner. This was immediately reported to us and Rcy is now under our protection.”
ㅡ Choon Entertainment
Kim Yongguk also mentioned the issue in a handwritten apology letter and expressed his regrets for his actions.
“It is true that I put Rcy up for adoption and then brought her back. I still regret upon my actions at the time and am reflecting on it. I am very sorry to Rcy, who had to go through pain that was not necessary, and I am simply full of regret. I am sorry for worrying many with my lack of awareness and actions in regard to pets. I will not forget my wrongdoings and learn from them.”
ㅡ Kim Yongguk
Kim Yongguk did previously mention on a live broadcast that Gagu and Rcy did not get along because Rcy was afraid of Gagu.
He stated that Gagu was an aggressive male so he didn’t get along with either Rcy or Tolbi. But instead of giving away Gagu, he had decided to give away Rcy.
Ever since the news came to light, fans have brought up examples of how Yongguk treated his cats:
- According to fans, Tolbi and Rcy were taken care of by his housekeeper and Shihyun took care of them when he was on Produce 101.
- According to an interview, Kim Yongguk didn’t properly take care of his cats (such as grooming them properly when some members were allergic) so other members were forced to care for his cats instead. Things had apparently gotten to the point where Hyunbin had to wear a mask when sleeping and take matters into his own hands. It was known that Rcy and Tolbi were attached to Hyunbin and fans now make sense of the situation.
- Fans also claim that Yongguk took his cats for his photo shoots but immediately left them in the care of his manager once the photo shoot was over.
Meanwhile, recent photos of Rcy have been shared by a user of an online community. While Kim Yongguk wrote in his apology that he had brought Rcy back, the poster claims that the cat is being taken care of by a former employee of Choon Entertainment and that the agency did not even ask for her consent before releasing their official statement.
Luckily, Rcy (who now goes by the name, Aljjang) is healthily and happily living her new life in her new home.
Fans and animal lovers in Korea have been (and continue to be) outraged by Kim Yongguk’s actions and his and his agency’s inconsistency.
- “What a b*tch. It’s amazing how he goes around with his head lifted after all of that. To a sweet cat like that…”
- “What did that poor cat ever do to him…”
- “The fact that shelters euthanize strays within 10 days angers me even more. If that person hadn’t taken care of her, she could’ve been euthanized. Yongguk didn’t even look for her – his agency went to get her because the fans reported it. He’s simply a psychopath.”
- “F*cking psychopath.”
- “Trash.”
- “He was just using cats for his image.”
- “F*cking a**hole went on TV pretending to be a good cat owner.”
- “Character sh*t. Humans like him shouldn’t be raising anything.”
