As you’ve likely heard by now, Siwon and his family are in a gigantic mess thanks to their dog causing the death of neighbor in their apartment complex, and the mess was only made worse with further details.
Among those details are things like how his dog biting him affected his military service.
During Siwon’s service as a promotional policeman, he had come back from his vacation with a bite from his dog on his nose. He had a band-aid on the bite, and because Siwon was the face of the police squad, it had affected the way events were held. He was in charge of MCing, but another soldier had to step in for about a month because of the bite. During performances, he also had to switch positions from center to the edge. It’s been reported that he had apologized to his fellow policemen for affecting performance due to the bite.
Due these types of follow-up reports on the story, many are calling for the dog to be euthanized, basically as a public health risk since the family appears negligent of the danger the dog poses. The family of the victim was reached for comment about putting the dog down, and they said it’s up to the conscience of Siwon’s family.
In an interview with Channel A reporters, the family said, “The owners of the dog asked for forgiveness, and we reached an agreement for the sake of Siwon’s future. We heard that they normally don’t keep the dog on a leash. We believe that legal punishment on people that do not follow basic rules about pets should be strengthened.” On Bugsy’s euthanasia, the family said, “We will leave that to the Choi family’s conscience.”
Not sure if that “agreement” is an admission of a settlement with compensation of some sort or if they’re just talking about agreeing to the apology being enough, but it sure sounds like the former. And the family of the deceased doesn’t sound as supportive of Siwon and his family anymore after all the details have come out. Hard to blame them.