Looking For Lepus Coreanus and Giant German Rabbits In Korea

As the Year of the Rabbit is around the corner, I’ve been wondering if Korea has its own native species of rabbit. Apparently it does, and the Korean hare, a.k.a. Lepus coreanus is probably among the 37,000 species on the list of indigenous wildlife species in Korea. This list was recently completed by the National Institute of Wildlife Resources and the number is expected to grow in future with more international validations.

Spotting the Korean hare may be easier than spotting the native tiger which is already extinct in the country. If you’re a fan of the Discovery Channel or into wildlife photography, keep your eyes open for it in its favourite foraging sites which could be in dense mountain forests or farmlands.

And if you’re visiting North Korea, you’d be even more hard-pressed to find the giant German rabbits imported by some North Korean officials way back in 2007. Some international papers like the Der Spiegel made much ado about the potential of breeding these enormous bunnies for their meat.

The breeder, Karl Szmonlinsky first caught the eye of the North Koreans when he won a prize for his “German grey giants” and they persuaded him to part with at least ten rabbits sold at around 80 euros or $104 per rabbit ( a pretty hefty discount, it seemed as the normal going rate for each rabbit was 200 t0 250 euros) and there was even talk of Szmonlinsky making a trip to Pyongyang to share his expertise with the North Koreans who were supposedly going to breed the rabbits to ease the food shortages there.

However, Karl Szmonlinsky became suspicious when the North Koreans later told him the trip was off, they weren’t issuing him a visa as promised as they didn’t need his technical advice anymore. He then shared with reporters his fear that the rabbits were no longer hopping around on a breeding farm or even a petting zoo but had made their last appearance on the dining tables of top officials.

The story doesn’t quite end there. The mystery of the missing rabbits in North Korea was raised again more recently by British artist Jess Flood-Padlock. By featuring images of those German giants in her solo exhibition “Gangsta’s Paradise” at the Hayward Gallery, she questioned the motives of those involved in the transaction.

Five hundred years from now, a group of archeologists may uncover some strange bones buried on the outskirts of Pyeongyang and wonder where they come from. The mystery may continue.

sources:
http://www.mammalwatching.com/Palearctic/palearctkorea.html
http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/news_Sc_detail.htm?No=78665
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Hare
http://san.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2008/10/31/2008103100564.html
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,475218,00.html
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,458863,00.html
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0%2C2144%2C2307544%2C00.html
http://www.artreview.com/forum/topics/jess-floodpaddock-gangsta
http://www9.artslant.com/global/artists/show/169946-jess-flood-paddock

Happily for one German giant, Herman,  it wasn't sold to the North Koreans. Here it poses with its owner, Hans Wagner.

North Koreans Watch World Cup, Thanks To ABU

It was interesting to read how many reporters in South Korea assumed the North Koreans were broadcasting illegally the World Cup matches when actually the free telecasts were courtesy of the Asian Broadcasting Union. It seems somewhat ironic to me that some South Korean broadcasting networks like KBS and MBC are planning to sue SBS for refusing to share broadcasting rights to the World Cup ( as apparently originally agreed upon) while those up north can watch for free.


Out of curiosity, I posed the following questions to John Barton, Sport Director of the Asian Broadcasting Union ( ABU). Many thanks once again, Mr Barton for responding so promptly!

1. Does the ABU have any idea how many N Koreans have TVs which would allow them to watch the World Cup matches?

J. Barton: "I don’t know precisely but I would imagine the penetration would be very high. Having been to Pyongyang and visited the national broadcaster KRT, I know that the vast majority of households have access to free to air television."

2. How much censorship is practised with regard to the games esp for last night's game with Portugal?

J. Barton: "Censorship is not the right word to use, though it is one that would come easily to reporters when discussing the DPRK. In contracts with major rights owners, such as Fifa and the International Olympic Committee, broadcasters are NOT told how to schedule. That is purely their own decision. So if a country wanted to run all games 24 hours later, they can. Naturally that is not a good strategy in most markets where, if you are not live, you are dead. What that means is by delaying your telecast the audience levels drop off dramatically and so, too, does revenue if you are a commercial broadcaster. In short it is very unwise to put games like these on a tape delayed basis."

3. Can you shed more light on the ABU decision to present this gift to NK?

J. Barton: "This is not a gift, as such. We have provided our signals for various events to territories free of charge for many years. Events such as the Olympics, Asian Games (15 countries will receive this year’s Asian Games free of charge), Fifa World Cup, and so on, where there is a proven inability to be able to pay for such a service. If we had to charge these countries would not get to see these events, hence the ‘gift’ as you put it. I prefer to say we are assisting in their development of television sports, and not penalising a population simply because they are poor!"

Pity,  though,  for the North Koreans that their team couldn't score against Portugal which played like a goal-making machine ( 7 -0 ) in its most recent match in South Africa. It would be interesting to hear what ordinary South Koreans think about the whole situation. I wondered if any  would be cheering for the North Korean team given the recent tensions over the Cheonan incident until I came across this article.

sources:
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2921629
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2921302

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/06/16/2010061601309.html
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/05/26/2010052601308.html
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2921954
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/06/16/2010061601191.html
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2921964
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/sports/2010/06/136_67742.html
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/2010-06-15-2233360639_x.htm