What if alcohol is sold with fake IDs? ... 80% say "Protect the business owners"

Survey Ahead of June Introduction of 'Man-nai' Age
80% Respondents Say "Need to Ease Business Burden"

Starting from June this year, with the introduction of the 'international age' system, 8 out of 10 citizens believe that the burden on business operators who are caught selling alcoholic beverages, etc., based on forged or altered identification cards should be alleviated.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission and the Ministry of Government Legislation conducted a survey on 'Alleviating the Burden on Business Operators Regarding Age Verification' through the government-wide policy communication platform 'Gukmin Saenggakham' from March 29 to April 11.

This survey was conducted to gather public opinion on measures to alleviate the burden on business operators that may arise when laws currently applying the calendar age standard are revised to unify the legal and social age standards to the international age system.

A total of 4,434 people (1,681 general citizens and 2,753 national panel members) participated in the survey, and 3,583 respondents, accounting for 80.8%, answered that "it is necessary to alleviate the burden on business operators who have suffered unfair damage related to age verification."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Regarding specific burden alleviation measures, "easing administrative sanctions on business operators who have suffered unfair damage" was the most common response at 47.9%.

Other responses included "legally clarifying the business operator's right to request identification and the buyer's obligation to comply" (17.4%), "diversifying identification methods using mobile technology" (16.4%), and "reducing the level of criminal penalties" (16.2%). There were also responses stating that "direct sanctions on buyers, as seen in overseas legislative cases, are necessary."

The Ministry of Government Legislation plans to prepare burden alleviation measures for business operators when revising laws and regulations to unify the 'international age' standard, considering business difficulties. These measures include ▷legal grounds for requiring identification for age verification ▷grounds for reducing or exempting sanctions on business operators who trusted forged or altered IDs or failed to verify identity due to assault or threats.

Bang Geuk-bong, Director of the Legislative Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Government Legislation, stated, "While revising laws and regulations to the international age standard, we will prepare measures to alleviate the burden on business operators and strive to prevent confusion or inconvenience to the public caused by the change in age standards."

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