Jeju Beach Famous for Its Beauty Suffers from Trash Piles... "Human Rights Issues Prevent Early Morning Cleaning"

Litter Left Behind After Drinking and Eating on the Beach Sand Poses a Problem

Jeju City Marine Fisheries Department, the Responsible Division, Remains Silent on Assessments and Concrete Measures

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters (Jeju) Reporter Park Chang-won] Jeju Iho-teu Beach (hereinafter Iho Beach) is suffering from piles of garbage accumulating every morning.

Iho Beach, known for being the closest to Jeju city center and famous for its beautiful night view, is scheduled to open on July 1. However, due to the early heat and Jeju Island's social distancing measure limiting business hours until 10 PM, people trying to continue gatherings after 10 PM are flocking to the beach.

The problem is that people who gather overnight on the beach drink and eat, leaving their trash behind, which remains unattended until morning. While the behavior of some who discard their conscience should be criticized, there are also concerns about the administration standing by without guidance or enforcement.

At 7 AM, the scene at Iho Beach is littered with trash and foul odors, causing early visitors to frown. Nevertheless, the managing authority, Iho-dong Community Service Center, only states, "Currently, early morning cleaning is impossible."

An official from Iho-dong explained the reason for the impossibility of early morning cleaning, saying, "We currently use marine environment keepers to clean up the trash accumulated overnight for about two hours starting at 8 AM, remove seaweed inflow from 10 AM, and clean the beach trash again for two hours from 3 PM. Deploying marine environment keepers at dawn would infringe on their human rights."

However, Haeundae Beach and Gwangalli Beach in Busan, similar to Iho Beach, deploy cleaning staff from 4 AM to eliminate inconvenience for early morning visitors. Currently, Busan city has an administrative order banning eating and drinking on the beach, resulting in confirmed low amounts of trash.

A (43) from Hwabuk-dong, Jeju City, who visited Iho Beach that day, said, "The early morning beach trash problem is not only an issue at Iho Beach. Beaches near densely populated residential areas like Samyang Beach are also suffering from trash left overnight," expressing concern that "especially after the closure of Tap-dong Square in Jeju City from the 30th, a balloon effect will cause more crowds to flock to nearby beaches, generating more trash."

Meanwhile, the responsible department, Jeju City Marine Fisheries Division, only responded to such criticism by saying, "We will discuss the opinions," remaining silent on assessing the actual beach trash situation or specific countermeasures.

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