Bullfighting in Cheongdo, North Gyeongsang Province, is facing new government scrutiny as criticism mounts that the practice amounts to animal abuse, putting a decades-old and lucrative local attraction under renewed pressure over animal welfare concerns. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said Sunday it will conduct a review of the Cheongdo Public Business Corporation, which runs the Cheongdo Bullfighting Festival. The ministry said it would also strengthen oversight of bullfighting operations with Cheongdo County, including reviewing registered fighting bulls, introducing a nose-pattern identification system, convening an external panel of experts to improve animal welfare and tightening controls on the issuance of betting tickets. The annual festival in the southeastern county, held since 1999, features bouts between two bulls. Although the origins of bullfighting in Korea are unclear, the practice was largely banned during the 1910-45 Japanese occupation of the peninsula, citing concerns about large public gatherings. Revived after liberation and later formalized, th