Nearly 10,000 Caught at 'Illegal Entertainment Venues'... Police Special Crackdown Extended Until End of This Month

Unauthorized Business and Operating Hours Violations
17% of COVID-19 Cases in Multi-Use Facilities During the '4th Wave' Are in Entertainment Venues

Following the government's phased return to normal life, restrictions on business hours and the number of customers have been eased. On the night of the 1st, a pub in front of Hongdae in Mapo-gu, Seoul, was bustling with customers well past 10 p.m. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] Amid the continued spread of COVID-19 following the phased return to normal life (With Corona), nearly 10,000 violators of illegal operations at entertainment facilities have been caught by the police.

According to the National Police Agency on the 8th, the police deployed 47,456 officers over 18 weeks from July 3 to August 7, conducting joint inspections with local governments at 118,414 entertainment facilities nationwide.

During this process, 1,262 cases and 9,989 individuals were caught for violations such as breaching quarantine guidelines. By type, there were 897 cases and 9,151 individuals violating the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act, 64 cases and 489 individuals violating the Food Sanitation Act, and 301 cases and 349 individuals violating the Music Industry Act.

The police, anticipating that illegal operations could flourish following the lifting of the gathering ban at entertainment facilities due to the With Corona implementation, decided to extend the special crackdown on illegal operations at entertainment facilities until the end of this month. The main targets for enforcement are ▲ unauthorized (variant) operations ▲ violations of operating hour restrictions ▲ reoperation of violating businesses ▲ and other breaches of quarantine rules.

The police plan to form joint inspection teams with local governments and related agencies to continuously conduct inspections and crackdowns, fostering a voluntary compliance atmosphere with quarantine guidelines. Additionally, they intend to identify profits gained from illegal operations and report tax data to the National Tax Service.

Meanwhile, since the fourth wave of COVID-19 in July this year, there have been 15,085 confirmed cases in multi-use facilities. Among them, 2,599 cases (17.2%) were from entertainment facilities alone.

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