A recent social media sensation, Fubao, a baby panda, is being forced to return to China.
Fubao was born on July 2, 2020, at Everland in Yongin메이저놀이터, Gyeonggi Province, the first panda to be born from a natural pregnancy in Korea.
The panda’s popularity grew recently when her keeper, Kang Kang-won, appeared on tvN’s “You Questions on the Block” and shared his memories of her. During the interview, Kang showed tears in anticipation of his upcoming separation from Fubao, who will soon return to China.
Why is Pooh Bao, who was born in South Korea and is also nicknamed “Mr. Yongin Fu,” returning to China next July?
Because China owns the panda. China only sends its critically endangered pandas abroad on loan. Even pandas born abroad, like Fubao, must return to China at the age of four, when they reach sexual maturity.
“What people think of as happy is not the same as what the animal is happy,” Kang explained on YouQuiz on the Block about Pu Bao’s repatriation.
“Pu Bao was raised by Aibao (Pu Bao’s mother), so she will do well (in China),” he said.
The broadcast also went viral on China’s version of YouTube, Billybilly. The video has been viewed nearly 60,000 times. “We can send the other pandas back, but Pu Bao can stay in Korea,” said one Chinese netizen.