Gangdong-gu (Mayor Lee Jung-hun) won the Chairman Award of the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee during the ceremony for the 2019 Korea Pet Culture Award on July 16, as the only local government awarded.

The 2019 Korea Pet Culture Award is a prize to assess the degree of contribution to the development of Korea's pet culture, co-hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and News 1 Korea. The award was launched first this year and drew individuals, groups, companies and local governments that have made contributions to developing Korea's animal welfare and creating a mature pet culture.

 Gangdong-gu has been recognized highly for its administrative civil service for the coexistence of people and animals by creating infrastructure for animal protection, implementing education projects intended to honor life according to different life stages and promoting a pet culture through the establishment of an industry-government-academia cooperation system.

Gangdong-gu began its creative projects for the development of a pet culture with the enactment of the ordinance for animal welfare in December 2013, followed by the operation of "Re:Born," a cafeteria-style animal shelter that opened for the first time in Korea in November 2017, the diffusion of soup kitchens for stray cats, visiting animal schools, "Gangdong Seodang" for socialization education of pet dogs, nurturing of behavior experts for pet dogs, and animal love walkathons.

"Gangdong-gu's animal welfare policy spread to Seoul City and the National Assembly as well as nearby local governments and played a leading role in the establishment of a new administrative sphere called animal welfare. We will continue to push for animal welfare policies so that a life respect culture can take root, to ensure that people and animals can live together," said Gangdong-gu Mayor Lee Jung-hun.

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  Yun Yeong-cheol, deputy mayor of Gangdong-gu Office, receiving the Chairman Award of the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee at the Korea Press Center on July 16 2019.

  

  Yun Yeong-cheol, deputy mayor of Gangdong-gu Office, receiving the Chairman Award of the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee at the Korea Press Center on July 16 2019.