'Quarantine Blind Spot' Illegal Entertainment Venues, Police Crackdown Nets 2,300 People in One Month

Illegal entertainment facility crackdown site.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] Police conducting inspections on illegal entertainment establishments, which are "blind spots" in quarantine measures, have identified over 2,300 offenders violating quarantine rules in one month.

According to the National Police Agency on the 2nd, from the 3rd of last month to the 1st of this month, over a 4-week period, 13,387 police officers were deployed to jointly inspect 34,110 entertainment establishments nationwide with local governments. During this process, 391 cases of illegal activities including violations of quarantine guidelines and 2,383 individuals were caught.

By type, there were 255 cases and 1,971 individuals violating the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act including quarantine rule violations, 23 cases and 286 individuals violating the Food Sanitation Act, and 113 cases and 126 individuals violating the Music Industry Act.

Examples of the violations include, on the 30th of last month at 11:05 p.m., 52 people including the owner who operated an unlicensed entertainment bar by employing 10 entertainment workers at a general restaurant located in Gangnam-gu, Seoul were caught. On the 29th of last month at around 11 p.m., 11 people including the owner and customers were caught operating secretly after turning off the signboard lights and locking the door at an entertainment bar in Seo-gu, Incheon.

Violations outside the metropolitan area also continued. At an entertainment bar in Cheongju-si, Chungbuk, and another in Cheonan-si, Chungnam, 11 and 20 people respectively, including owners and customers, were caught operating secretly after turning off the signboard lights. At a singing practice room in Changwon-si, Gyeongnam, 14 people were caught by police after secretly operating with the signboard lights off and the door locked.

The police plan to conduct focused crackdowns on unlicensed entertainment bars operating in remodeled motels, reoperation of violating establishments, "expedition entertainment" near metropolitan border areas, and entertainment facilities around tourist spots during the vacation season.

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