Busan Extends 'Beach Gathering Restriction Order'

Busan City Extends Gathering Restriction Order Until August 31
Full Effort on Safe Beach Quarantine Measures Despite Vacation Season

On the 2nd, vacationers are enjoying water activities while maintaining social distancing at Haeundae Beach in Busan. [Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] Despite the peak vacation season, the assembly restriction order at Busan beaches will be extended.

On the 7th, Busan City announced that it will extend the assembly restriction order period at beaches until August 31 and further strengthen quarantine measures at the beaches.

The assembly restriction order mandates a ban on nighttime eating and requires mask-wearing at beaches in the Busan area. The original period was until August 15, but due to strengthened quarantine measures, it has been extended until the end of this month.

On the 4th, the city held an emergency meeting at the Haeundae-gu Tourism Facility Management Office with about 20 participants including quarantine experts and beach officials, where this decision was made. The details will be announced for each beach.

The city also reviewed the beach closure system and shortened opening period requested by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, but considering that swimming is allowed at all times regardless of the beach opening status under current law, and the balloon effect causing higher crowd density in nearby areas, it decided on effective measures.

The city plans to launch a campaign every weekend with all available personnel and promotional media in cooperation with related organizations to ensure compliance with quarantine guidelines. Enforcement personnel will be increased to strongly deal with mask non-wearing and nighttime eating.

Additionally, management of nearby businesses such as restaurants will be strengthened, and when beach crowd density increases, disaster text messages will be sent, rental of vacation supplies will be suspended, and parking lots will be controlled.

Previously, the city established quarantine measures for COVID-19 at beaches including ▲ on-site umbrella assignment system ▲ provision of congestion information by beach ▲ QR code entry for nearby businesses and waterfront parks ▲ enforcement against mask non-wearing and eating at beaches (with fines) ▲ sending disaster text messages when beach crowd density rises.

So far, the city has deployed 133 enforcement teams to monitor mask-wearing and nighttime eating bans at beaches, having guided or enforced a total of 5,168 cases.

Jo Yoo-jang, Director of Busan City Tourism MICE Industry Bureau, urged, “Preventing COVID-19 requires not only the efforts of quarantine authorities but also citizens’ compliance with quarantine rules. We ask vacationers and nearby businesses to voluntarily participate in following the quarantine guidelines.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.