The tiger boom is here, but where are the tigers?

The National Museum of Korea’s ″Magpie and Tiger Badge,″ sold out until the end of the year [NATIONAL MUSEUM OF KOREA]

 
A full-blown tiger craze is sweeping through Korea. The National Museum of Korea’s “Magpie and Tiger Badge” has already sold out online until the end of the year. On Liberation Day, a massive “drone tiger” appeared in the skies over the Han River.
 
This unexpected tiger boom was fueled by the global success of the Netflix animated series “KPop Demon Hunters,” which features a tiger side character named Duffy modeled after the traditional Korean folk painting known as Hojakdo — a magpie-and-tiger painting from the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). As the character gained popularity, so did interest in all things tiger-related.
 
 
But this is all about “imaginary tigers.” Real tigers are a different story — they are classified as a first-grade endangered species. The last known sighting of a wild tiger in Korea was in 1924. Even on International Tiger Day, which fell on July 29, no commemorations or celebrations took place in Korea.
 
To understand what tigers mean to Koreans today, the JoongAng Ilbo spoke with Lim Jeong-eun, a senior researcher at the Endangered Species Restoration Center under the National Institute of Ecology and author of the recently published book “Tigers Do Not Live in the Forest.”
 
Asked about the current surge in tiger popularity, Lim said, “It’s been over 100 years since we last saw an actual wild tiger. Any biological fear of tigers has faded, while we’ve become extremely familiar with them through culture and art.”
 
As an example of Korea’s deep affection for tigers, Lim pointed to Olympic mascots.  
 
“You could chalk it up to coincidence the first time, but when both Olympic mascots — Hodori for the 1988 Seoul Olympics and Soohorang for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics — were tigers, that shows just how much Koreans love tigers,” Lim said.
 

A Korean tiger at the ″Tiger Forest″ inside Baekdudaegan National Arboretum in Bonghwa, North Gyeongsang [JOONGANG ILBO]

 
But she acknowledged there is a disconnect between this affection and the reality.  
 
“Positive attention is good, but I hope it leads to awareness of more realistic issues like wild tiger conservation,” Lim said.
 
Asked whether tigers really no longer exist in Korea, Lim said, “There have been occasional reports of tiger traces, but all of them turned out to be false alarms. If wild tigers were truly present, we would see not only footprints but also claw marks and feces. Given how many people go hiking with smartphones, it’s hard to believe no one would find anything. The average lifespan of a wild tiger is 10 to 15 years.”
 
Despite this, there are still those who pursue signs of surviving tigers.  
 
“It seems they’re clinging to hope. Of course it would be nice, but I personally think it’s unrealistic,” Lim said. “Should we continue pouring time, money and effort into chasing something that isn’t there? Our priorities need to shift.”
 

National Institute of Ecology researcher Lim Jeong-eun’s book, ″Tigers Do Not Live in the Forest [DASAN BOOKS]

 
When asked about the possibility of restoring the tiger population, Lim said, “To truly restore a species, you need a population that can breed and interact — not just a few individuals. The minimum viable population (MVP) is about 50. But can Korea support that many? Biologically, it’s feasible. Deer and wild boars have made a comeback, so food sources are decent. But coexisting with humans is a whole different challenge.”
 
Lim cited the example of Asiatic black bears released into national parks. The bears have occasionally wandered into nearby villages, attacking rabbits and goats. If a restored tiger were to injure or kill a person, the consequences would be far more serious.  
 
“Bears are technically omnivores, but they’re mostly herbivorous — over 80 percent of their diet is vegetation, mainly acorns,” said Lim. “Tigers, on the other hand, are obligate carnivores. In Russia, tigers have been known to prey on Asiatic black bears.”
 
On whether conservation — rather than restoration — was possible, Lim explained that the scale must be expanded.  
 

A drawing done by a student from a wildlife preservation zone in China, depicting a young girl protecting a tiger from poachers [DASAN BOOKS]

 
“Wild animals aren’t the property of any single country,” she said. “Tigers in particular have wide territories, so we need to take a broader view and preserve them regionally in Northeast Asia, not just within Korea.”
 
Female tigers are known to roam territories of over 400 square kilometers (154 square miles), while males can cover over 1,000 square kilometers. Around 42 percent of the tigers living along the China-Russia border are known to cross national boundaries.  
 
Tigers don’t recognize borders the way humans do. Biologically speaking, the Korean tiger — also known as the Baekdu tiger — is the same species as the Amur or Siberian tiger. In Lim’s view, helping protect tigers in Russia and China is also a way to protect Korea’s own.
 
She added that tigers crossing from Russia or China into North Korea could eventually make their way south along the Baekdu Daegan mountain range. If that were to happen, the demilitarized zone could serve as a critical rest stop or habitat corridor.
 

Researcher Lim Jeong-eun, who was pursuing her doctorate in 2010, provides tiger-related training to rangers at the Nam Aet Phu Rui Conservation Area in Laos [DASAN BOOKS]

 
On the issue of international cooperation with countries like Russia and North Korea, and whether such cooperation is realistic, Lim said, “Human time is different from nature’s time. Politicians change every few years, but they say mountains change every 10 years. Tiger restoration and conservation must be viewed with a long-term perspective.”
 
As for whether Koreans would support spending money to conserve tigers in other countries, she said, “The European Union and the United States spend large sums to protect species that don’t even live in their territories, all in the name of preserving global biodiversity. Korea is a member of the OECD. Surely we can do at least that much — especially for an animal that once roamed our land. I hope we can open our hearts a little and take a broader view.”
 
Lim, who studied life sciences at KAIST, changed her major to conservation biology after becoming fascinated by tigers. She earned her master’s and doctorate degrees in Britain and the United States, and has conducted field research on tiger conservation in Nam Et-Phou Louey National Park in Laos and in Hunchun, China. She is considered Korea’s only on-the-ground tiger researcher.
 
 

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM HAN-BYUL [[email protected]]