Self-Employed Association: "Despair Again Due to Unilateral Quarantine Strengthening... We Will Unite and Resist"

Due to the rapid increase in COVID-19 confirmed cases, the government is considering whether to suspend the phased recovery of daily life (With Corona). On the 28th, the streets of Myeongdong, Seoul, were quiet. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] A self-employed business group criticized the special COVID-19 quarantine measures that began on the 6th, calling them "measures that completely disregard the opinions of self-employed business owners."

The National Emergency Countermeasures Committee for Self-Employed Business Owners (NECC) issued a statement on the 6th, saying, "With the announcement of strengthened quarantine measures that thoroughly ignore the opinions of small business and self-employed representatives, the industry has once again faced a life-or-death crisis."

The NECC criticized, "Due to the prolonged COVID-19 quarantine regulations, there has been a severe decline in sales, and it is impossible to hire personnel to manage the quarantine passes. Moreover, a system to distinguish unvaccinated individuals has not even been established. In this situation, the government expanded the application of quarantine passes to selective multi-use facilities based on unclear criteria and is pushing small business owners and the self-employed into lawbreakers by imposing fines for non-compliance."

They added, "In a situation where losses caused by quarantine regulations must be partially recovered during the peak season, inconsistent and unplanned policies have left us in a desperate situation."

The NECC demanded, "We call for the immediate withdrawal of policies that ignore the voices from the field and restrict the facilities of small business owners and the self-employed who lack the capacity to accept and implement these measures, thereby turning them into lawbreakers." They also stated, "The NECC will unite with all organizations harmed by the quarantine pass and use all means to confront the quarantine policies that have broken trust."

The special COVID-19 quarantine measures implemented from today include limiting private gatherings to a maximum of 6 people in the metropolitan area and 8 people in non-metropolitan areas for four weeks, and expanding the application of quarantine passes to indoor multi-use facilities such as restaurants, cafes, academies, and PC rooms.

When using academies, movie theaters, performance halls, reading rooms, study cafes, multi-rooms, PC rooms, indoor stadiums, museums, art galleries, science centers, party rooms, libraries, and massage or therapy centers, proof of vaccination or a negative test result is required. However, since restaurants and cafes are essential facilities, unvaccinated individuals using them alone do not need to present a negative test result separately. When private gatherings occur in restaurants or cafes, only one unvaccinated person may be included.

This measure includes a one-week grace period until the 13th, after which fines will be imposed for violations. Facility users who violate quarantine measures may be fined 100,000 KRW per violation. Managers or operators will be fined 1,500,000 KRW for the first violation and 3,000,000 KRW for the second and subsequent violations. Administrative actions such as suspension of operations for ▲10 days for the first violation ▲20 days for the second ▲3 months for the third ▲and facility closure orders for the fourth violation may also be enforced if quarantine guidelines are not followed.

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