TVXQ’s Yunho, who was recently under investigation for violating South Korea’s level two social distancing rules, is now receiving heat for reportedly abandoning his husky.
An online community board recently posted about Yunho’s husky named Taepoong, who he adopted back in 2008. The post stated that Yunho had abandoned the dog after just a year and has not brought the dog back home even after 12 years.
They revealed that Yunho did not buy the dog directly but received it as a birthday gift from Jaejoong on his birthday that year.
Yunho and Taepoong were seen together at a pet shop in Chungmu-ro on his birthday buying pet supplies as well as at Yunho’s birthday party.
A few years later in 2011, he gave an update about his husky through a Vogue Japan interview.
I want to see Taepoong. I haven’t seen him in about a year because I was busy with work. He’s become the leader at the training school and is now training other dogs.
— Yunho
Then in 2012, he appeared on Mnet’s Beatles Code 2 and revealed his reason for sending his dog to training school.
As Taepoong got older, I got a lot of complaints from the neighbors and so I sent Taepoong to training school.
— Yunho
Host Tak Jae Hoon started to joke and state that sending Taepoong to training school was the same as abandoning it.
Tak: How many months has it been?
Yunho: Taepoong’s been at the training school for three years.
Tak: Then that’s the same thing as abandonment.
Yunho: No. You should never abandon your pets.
Yunho also emphasized that he would bring Taepoong back home later to live with him at his house with a yard.
In his video message, he revealed he was sorry and that he would soon come to take Taepoong home.
Taepoong-ah! It’s your dad. I’m sorry that I can’t see you often and I will come soon to take you home. Taepoong I still love you…
— Yunho
After this appearance, there were no other updates about Taepoong.
The most recent update was in 2015 from a Japan fan meeting where Yunho revealed that Taepoong had “gone far away”. His ambiguous comment caused fans to be divided into the meaning behind it. Some felt that it meant that Taepoong had passed away, while others thought interpreted it as being sent away to a new owner.
I’m posting this tweet because false rumors still seem to be going around. During the first part of Yunho’s Osaka fan event, him revealing that Taepoong had passed away is a lie and is a just a misunderstanding as the dog has gone to a new owner. No more false posts please!
— @onlyoneuknow Twitter user
Netizens who saw the post were upset to see how irresponsible he was regarding his pet.
- “I think the worst type of person is someone that doesn’t treat animals with the love they deserve.”
- “Wow I’m disgusted with this.”
- “Is this how rich people abandon their dogs? By sending them to training school?”
- “Wow I see Yunho differently now.”
- “Wow’s he’s such a fake!”
After violating social distancing rules, Yunho posted a personal apology shortly after SM Entertainment’s official statement.
