A man has been arrested after more than 1,000 dogs were found starving in his home in grim conditions.
Police responded to reports from a local who had stumbled upon the house in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province, the most populated area of South Korea.
The residents found the site while searching for their own dog which had gotten lost.
The suspect, a man in his 60s, is said to have confessed to recovering abandoned dogs before starving them to death.
However, according to animal rights campaigners, dog farmers paid him around 10,000 South Korean won (£6.42) to dispose of the animals when they passed their breeding age, or if they were unattractive to potential buyers.
A spokesperson for Care, an animal rights group, said the man has been charged with violating animal protection laws for agreeing to "take care" of the dogs for the measly sum.
According to the Korea Herald, he would lock the animals up and starve them to death.
In South Korea, people found guilty of abusing animals face a minimum three-year sentence or a 30million won (£19,264).
In local media broadcasts, the lifeless bodies of dogs could be seen in cages, sacks and rubber boxes in the grounds.
Activists from Care, who visited the scene, said there were some many canine corpses that they made multiple layers on the ground, on top of which more dogs were laid.
Four dogs survived the ordeal and were rescued, and are undergoing treatment at a vet. Two of them were left in critical condition.
The surviving animals were severely malnourished with some having a skin disease.
In Yangpyeong, the local government said the bodies of the dead dogs would be removed later this week.
Animal abuse cases rose from 69 to 914 in a nine-year period between 2010 and 2019.
According to the agriculture ministry’s Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, incidents of animal abandonment also rose by around 40,000.
South Koreans have around six million pet dogs and 2.6million cats.
Over the border in North Korea, a luxury dog meat restaurant has been built in an exclusive area of Pyongyang after being approved by Kim Jong-Un who is pushing "healthier eating".
Occupying a prime river bank location, the ‘Dog Meat Delicacy House’ will be near the well-known Okryugwan noodle restaurant in Pyonyang.
It is believed that the opening of the restaurant and others similar that offer dog meat as a delicacy is part of a drive by the state to improve people’s diets.
But it comes as Kim opened a major political conference dedicated to agriculture this week with claims that the country is facing a famine.
South Korean experts estimate that North Korea is short around one million tonnes of grain, 20% of its annual demand, after the pandemic disrupted both farming and imports from China.
