Guests at adjacent table separately... Hwang Unha says, "Not a private gathering of 5 or more"

Daejeon City "Room Layout, Tables at Least 1m Apart"
No Procedural Issues with Partition Installation

Hwang Unha, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Hyun-joo] It has been confirmed that Hwang Un-ha, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, did not violate the quarantine rules prohibiting 'private gatherings of five or more people.'

On the 2nd, Jung-gu Office of Daejeon City stated, "The group accompanying Representative Hwang did not violate the prohibition, and there were no significant issues in the quarantine procedures."

Earlier, on December 26 last year, Representative Hwang had dinner in a private room at a restaurant in Jung-gu, Daejeon, with former Daejeon Mayor Yeom Hong-cheol and local economic figures.

When a local economic figure (Daejeon case number 847) tested positive on December 31 last year, the quarantine authorities identified five close contacts, including Representative Hwang and former Mayor Yeom at the same table, and three others at the adjacent table, and required them to undergo COVID-19 testing. Among them, former Mayor Yeom was confirmed positive.

It was investigated that case number 847 showed symptoms such as sore throat starting from the 25th, the day before meeting Representative Hwang and others. Representative Hwang, who tested negative, will self-isolate until January 9 next year according to health authorities' guidelines.

Some media raised suspicions that the two tables in the room, each with three people, constituted a private gathering and claimed that the 'ban on private gatherings of five or more people' was violated.

A Jung-gu Office official explained, "Upon on-site verification, the entry times of Representative Hwang's group and the adjacent table's group were different, the ordered menus were different, and the bills were paid separately. The room layout had tables more than 1 meter apart, and partitions were installed between them, so there were no issues with quarantine procedures." He added, "The restaurant staff also said that Representative Hwang's group and the adjacent table's group were separate customers," and emphasized, "There is no evidence that six people held a private gathering."

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) prohibited reservations and group entries of five or more people at restaurants nationwide from December 24 last year to March this year. Violators face fines: restaurant operators up to 3 million KRW, and users up to 100,000 KRW.

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