Park So-yeon, chief executive of the Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth (CARE) outside the Seoul Central District Court in this photo taken on May 3, 2022. Newsis

An appellate court on Thursday reduced the prison term for the leader of a Korean animal rights group accused of euthanizing stray pets, saying the act was not done entirely out of "personal interest."

Park So-yeon, chief executive of the Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth (CARE), was indicted in 2019 for euthanizing 98 homeless animals in order to secure more space in the animal shelter and reduce the treatment cost of animals between 2015 and 2018.

Park is also accused of illegally entering two breeding farms and snatching five dogs worth some 1.3 million won ($932.53) in August 2018.

The Seoul Central District Court handed out the two-year prison term, suspended for four years, on charges of violating the Animal Protection Act, effectively overturning the lower court's ruling of a two-year prison sentence.

"The defendant has pleaded guilty to all charges up to today's ruling and has vowed to engage in such activism without having run-ins with the law," the court said. "We trust that the defendant committed the acts not simply for personal interest and is remorseful of her fault."

The court, however, upheld the previous ruling that sentenced Park to four months in prison, suspended for two years, for leaking the identity of the whistle-blower who publicized the euthanizing of animals to the media. (Yonhap)