Behold South Korea's adorable new First Dog
Dear internet — please welcome your newest First Dog.
South Korea's president Moon Jae-in has officially adopted Tory, the shelter dog he promised to take in during his presidential campaign.
On Wednesday, he welcomed the little pooch into the country's presidential mansion:
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Tory, a four-year-old black mixed breed dog, was introduced to the Blue House alongside Moon's other two pets — Maroo, a dog; and Jjing-jjing, a cat.
Meet President Moon Jae-in's newly adopted dog Tory, who was earlier rescued from an abusive owner and given refuge in a shelter. #dogs pic.twitter.com/DNb4U5w1AO
— LIM Yun Suk (@yunsukCNA) July 26, 2017
"As a society, we need to pay more attention to abandoned animals and care for them," the president said at a ceremony to officially welcome Tory to the Blue House. As many as 300,000 animals had been abandoned in the country, he added.
A post shared by Sung Eun (@k.jung.won) on Jul 26, 2017 at 7:59pm PDT
Administration officials had previously confirmed that they would bring Tory to the Blue House in May when the adoption process was complete.
Tory had been seen as unpopular with adopters, because of a stigma surrounding black dogs in Korea.
"Tory had to wait for two years to be adopted while his lighter-furred friends easily found new homes," Park Soyoun, the president of Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth (CARE), a Seoul-based shelter, told Reuters.
A post shared by 뼛속까지 친노친문 (@leekyeongcheol) on Jul 26, 2017 at 3:45am PDT
Tory had been kept on a meter-long (3.2 ft) leash in an abandoned farmhouse and fed scraps before he was rescued in 2015.
Image: CARE/Naver
The dog was first thrust into the public spotlight when three animal groups — including CARE — started a nationwide campaign calling on presidential candidates to adopt a dog from their shelters after they were elected.
Image: Nam Jong-Young/Daum
Soon after the campaign was launched, Moon promised to adopt Tory if he was elected.
The president — an animal-friendly candidate who pledged to build more playgrounds for pets, as well as feeding facilities for stray cats — said then that "both humans and animals have the right to be free from prejudice and discrimination."
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