Cafe Declaring "24-Hour Operation" Despite Government Guidelines Reported for 'Quarantine Law Violation'

Incheon City "Both Business Owners and Customers Will Be Reported if Operating After 9 PM"

Notice of a large franchise cafe in Incheon declaring 24-hour operation. Photo by Instagram capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] A large franchise cafe in Incheon, which publicly declared it would "operate 24 hours normally" in defiance of the government's strengthened COVID-19 quarantine measures, has been reported for violating quarantine laws.

On the 21st, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon announced that it had reported two locations of Cafe A?its Songdo main branch and branch B?to the police on charges of violating the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act.

The two cafes are accused of violating the government’s business hour restriction, which has been in effect since the 18th, limiting operations until 9 p.m. (violation of gathering ban). Under the current Infectious Disease Prevention Act, violating the gathering ban is punishable by a fine of up to 3 million KRW.

Previously, the two cafes had posted notices on their entrance doors stating, "This store will continue to operate 24 hours normally despite the government's business hour restriction guidelines."

In the notice, the cafe stated, "All 14 nationwide locations are directly managed stores, but the Seogwipo branch was closed last week, and the accumulated deficit over the past year has exceeded 1 billion KRW. We have been operating with great difficulty without receiving any compensation for losses. We ask for your generous understanding, forgiveness, and continued patronage."

Incheon City reported the two cafes to the police and, seeing that other directly managed stores are also violating quarantine guidelines, plans to conduct joint inspections on the remaining four directly managed stores. They also announced that if operations continue after 9 p.m., both owners and customers will be reported.

Meanwhile, a representative of Cafe A told Asia Economy in a phone interview on the same day, "Since the 20th, we have been operating only until 9 p.m."

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