Convenience Stores Anxious About Sheet Adhesion... 8,486 Cases of 5 Major Crimes Last Year (Comprehensive)

Crime Vulnerability Increased by Covering with Convenience Store Stickers
33,863 Cases in Last 4 Years... Annual Average 8,466 Cases
Theft, Violence, Rape and Sexual Assault Most Common
Questioning Effectiveness of Youth Smoking Rate Reduction

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] As various crimes against convenience store owners and part-time workers are increasing, the opaque sheets attached to the outside of stores have become controversial. Since July last year, this has been due to the Ministry of Health and Welfare's crackdown on external exposure of tobacco advertisements, but concerns have been raised that convenience stores operating 24 hours a day are easily exposed to crime. Over the past four years, the five major crimes?murder, robbery, rape/sexual assault, theft, and violence?occurred a total of 33,863 times in convenience stores, averaging 8,466 cases annually.

According to data obtained by Asia Economy on the 6th from the National Police Agency through the office of Oh Young-hwan, a member of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee from the Democratic Party, 8,486 cases of the five major crimes occurred in convenience stores last year. By type, there were 3 murders, 39 robberies, 230 rapes/sexual assaults, 6,143 thefts, and 2,071 cases of violence.

By year, there were 8,045 cases in 2018, 8,659 in 2019, and 8,673 in 2020, with more than 8,000 cases of the five major crimes occurring annually in convenience stores. Among these, theft accounted for 68.24%, violence 27.72%, rape/sexual assault 3.23%, robbery 0.77%, and murder 0.03%. In particular, theft steadily increased from 5,169 cases in 2018 to 5,853 in 2019, 5,944 in 2020, and 6,143 last year. Murders decreased from 4 cases in 2018 to 3 in 2019, 1 in 2020, but rose again to 3 last year.

In fact, all convenience stores such as CU, GS25, Seven Eleven, and Emart24 in Gwanak-gu, Seoul, had opaque sheets attached. After sunset and as it got dark, it was difficult to see inside from outside unless entering the store entrance. A convenience store part-timer, Mr. Lee, said, “Honestly, it’s very scary to work alone at night,” and added, “If a crime happens, it would be really dangerous because it’s hard to know the situation from outside.” Another convenience store used not only opaque sheets but also other products and promotional banners to block tobacco advertisements. In this case, it was difficult to even know who was inside the store regardless of day or night.

The National Health Promotion Act and the Tobacco Business Act stipulate that tobacco advertisements inside tobacco retail stores must not be visible from outside. Violations can result in imprisonment of up to one year or fines of up to 10 million won. Failure to comply with correction orders can lead to business suspension for up to one year. Although this law was enacted in 2011, it was ineffective due to lack of enforcement. However, last year, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced a comprehensive smoking cessation plan to reduce smoking rates, strengthening regulations on tobacco advertisements and promotions, leading to the attachment of opaque sheets in convenience stores.

The convenience store industry criticizes the regulation itself as ineffective. According to the 17th Youth Health Behavior Survey conducted by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency from August to November last year targeting about 60,000 students from 1st year middle school to 3rd year high school, 4.5% of youths responded that they smoked regular cigarettes at least once a day in the past month, showing little change from 4.4% the previous year. The rate of youths who answered that they could purchase cigarettes at convenience stores or shops, called ‘purchase accessibility,’ sharply increased from 67% in 2021 to 74.8% last year.

Convenience store owners are demanding improvements to the system, arguing that opaque sheets threaten workers’ safety. The Korea Convenience Store Network stated, “Recently, incidents of violence inside convenience stores have increased and become more severe,” and added, “Opaque sheets prevent outsiders from seeing inside, threatening the lives of convenience store workers.” They further explained, “Due to the 24-hour operation characteristic of convenience stores, most stores are designed with transparent glass walls to reduce crime risk, but the mandatory attachment of opaque sheets has instead created blind spots for crime.”

Professor Lim Joon-tae of Dongguk University’s Department of Police Administration advised, “From a crime prevention perspective, making the inside of convenience stores hard to see is a negative factor. From a criminal’s viewpoint, it creates conditions to commit crimes without being caught, and poor visibility inside creates blind spots. Changing to an open design that is clearly visible from outside would help prevent crime.”

Assemblyman Oh emphasized, “Rapid police response and the establishment of a prevention system are absolutely necessary, and it seems urgent to install safe zones to protect workers’ personal safety until police arrive.”

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