Visitors pet a Jindo dog at Samsung Electronics’ booth during the Crufts Dog Show held in the U.K. in 2005. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics
Late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s (1942-2020) love of animals is being rediscovered through his efforts to preserve Jindo dogs, an indigenous Korean breed, and transform the country’s pet culture. Samsung recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of its guide dog training school, also founded by the late leader, according to the group, Tuesday.
During his lifetime, Lee, who was known for his love of animals, worked on promoting Korea’s pet culture to the world by working on preserving the Jindo breed and establishing a guide dog training school to help the visually impaired.
A logo for Samsung Electronics / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics
Samsung said Lee first tried to preserve the Jindo breed, a national treasure. The dogs are named after Jindo, an island in the country's southwest where they originate.
Jindo dogs are not well-known to the world, nor even in Korea. So Lee traveled to Jindo in the late 1960s and brought 30 of the near-extinct animals to Seoul. After 10 years, he succeeded in producing purebred pairs. Since then, the program has raised nearly 300 Jindos and increased the purebred rate to 80 percent.
To showcase the breed’s excellence to the world, Lee presented Jindo dogs at a dog fair in Japan in 1979. This led to the South Jeolla Province island being registered as the breed's origin through the Dog World Kennel Club in 1982. In 2005, the Kennel Club, a U.K.-based organization, registered Jindo dogs as an official breed.
When negative perceptions of Korea’s dog-eating culture spread around the world before the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Lee played a key role in defusing the controversy.
Late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee poses with a guide dog / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics
To defend the country’s image, Lee invited members of a U.K. animal protection association to Seoul and showed them how he was caring for his dogs at home to raise awareness of pet culture here. Eventually, the association canceled its protest.
The late chairman also took the lead in promoting Korea’s dog culture around the world. Starting in 1993, he sponsored the Crufts Dog Show in the U.K., one of the world's top three dog competitions.
The Samsung Guide Dog School was also founded on his initiative in 1993. He believed in creating a society that cares for people with disabilities and accepts them as members of the community and expanded his corporate social responsibility activities through dogs.
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