"Blocking Out-of-Town Entertainment" Chungnam, Police Jointly Conduct Sanitation Inspections at 13,000 Establishments

Before the implementation of Level 4 social distancing, the entertainment district alleys near Gangnam Station in Seoul were filled with people. Photo by Asia Economy DB

[Asia Economy (Hongseong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Chungnam Province is focusing on blocking quarantine blind spots such as out-of-town nightlife within the region. Recently, with more than 1,000 daily COVID-19 cases mainly in the metropolitan area and the resulting strengthened social distancing measures, the province aims to close quarantine gaps caused by people coming to Chungnam to enjoy out-of-town nightlife.

The province announced on the 13th that it will designate the rest of this month as a special quarantine period and conduct on-site inspections of 13,561 establishments across 31 industries.

The inspection targets include ▲ 5,862 establishments in 6 industries classified as high-priority management facilities ▲ 4,860 establishments in 8 industries classified as general management facilities ▲ 2,839 establishments in 17 industries classified as additional management facilities by the province.

Inspections will be conducted jointly by the province, 15 cities and counties, Chungnam Provincial Police, special judicial police, and the safety inspection team. The province’s policy is to apply a zero-tolerance principle to quarantine guideline violations found during on-site inspections, imposing administrative sanctions such as fines and business suspensions.

In particular, the province will strengthen compliance with quarantine guidelines by conducting joint crackdowns with the provincial police department’s vice squad and local police stations in each city and county on high-risk facilities such as the five types of nightlife establishments and singing practice rooms. The focused crackdown on nightlife establishments is a measure to respond to the recent trend of young people from the metropolitan area traveling to Chungnam for out-of-town nightlife.

Additionally, the province will operate a safety inspection team it has independently formed to strengthen continuous monitoring of self-quarantined individuals within the province and plans to take swift and strict legal action if unauthorized departures occur.

The special judicial police departments of the province and cities/counties will promote crackdowns on high-priority management facilities such as restaurants, cafes, and singing practice rooms.

Lee Jeong-gu, Director of the Disaster Safety Office of the province, said, “With the rapid increase in confirmed cases mainly in the metropolitan area, concerns about a fourth wave are growing. The province plans to strengthen field-centered quarantine inspections and crackdown activities to prevent further spread of COVID-19 in the local community.”

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