"Baek Jong-won’s One-Sided Claims for an Hour"... Angry Store Owners Counter with '7 Major Lies'

Baek Jong-won, CEO who appeared on 'Questions from Son Seok-hee'
"Weekend prime time... one-sided claims for an hour"

The National Franchisee Association (Jeongahyeop) strongly opposed Baek Jong-won, CEO of The Born Korea, for his one-sided stance on 'Yeondon Bolkatsu' expressed through a broadcast. On the 14th, Jeongahyeop, People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, and the Lawyers for a Democratic Society jointly released a press statement titled 'Baek Jong-won's 7 Major Lies.'

Baek Jong-won appeared on MBC's 'Son Seok-hee's Questions'.
[Photo by MBC]

They criticized Baek, who appeared on MBC's 'Son Seok-hee's Questions' the previous day (13th) and expressed his position on the franchise business, including Yeondon Bolkatsu, amid recent controversies over false and exaggerated sales figures, saying, "He unilaterally asserted only his position for about an hour during the prime time on a weekend evening."

Jeongahyeop pointed out that Baek stated on the broadcast that only a very small number of franchisees raised issues regarding the Yeondon Bolkatsu incident, but "Out of 83 stores (93 stores including 10 transfers), more than 50 stores (over 60%) have closed, and among the 21 remaining stores, 8 have raised issues."

Also, Baek claimed that some stores raising issues had different average operating days compared to others and suggested that the problem was due to some franchisees being unfaithful and having low sales, but this was explained as untrue.

Jeongahyeop and others stated, "The lower-performing stores with poor sales have already closed, and the remaining stores were originally in the mid-to-upper sales range," adding, "The closure of more than 50 out of 83 stores proves this."

Regarding Baek's claim on the broadcast that Yeondon Bolkatsu headquarters made false and exaggerated advertisements such as 'expected sales of 30 million won' when recruiting franchisees, they rebutted his remarks that "The sales staff said something to boost sales during business operations, and it is not appropriate to pick on that and expect compensation as if the entire company promised it," and "While announcing the highest and lowest sales, there was only a statement that a nearby store had sales of 30 million won, but listening to the entire recording shows otherwise."

Jeongahyeop stated, "The headquarters staff provided the expected sales figures in writing as required by the Franchise Business Act, but verbally urged contracts by saying 'Don't pay attention to these sales figures' and promised hall sales of 30 million won and total sales of 40 million won," and claimed, "Almost all franchisees heard similar false, exaggerated sales figures and profitability information."

Additionally, Jeongahyeop said, "The Born Korea threatened legal action against false, exaggerated, and sensational reports that differ from the facts," and "It is very regrettable that this behavior, which threatens franchisees and other media by exposing it even on broadcast screens, is taking place."

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