Taking Advantage of 'Yajang Romance' to Skip Paying for Food... Business Owners Frustrated by 'Meoktwi'

12,818 Cases of Fare Evasion Reports Last Year
Small Businesses Find It Difficult to Implement Kiosks
Most Are Misdemeanors... Experts Say "Laws Need to Be Strengthened"

At around 7 p.m. on the 16th, the pojangmacha street in Jongno-gu, Seoul was bustling with customers as the outdoor dining culture, where people eat and drink at outdoor tables in the cool autumn weather, has become popular mainly among people in their 20s and 30s. Amid this, cases of so-called 'meoktwi'?where customers leave without paying after dining outdoors?have been increasing, causing significant losses for business owners.

A notice saying "No Eating and Running" is posted at a restaurant in Jongno-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Yeom Da-yeon]

Song (46), who has been running a restaurant in Jongno-gu, Seoul for three years, recently posted notices saying 'No Meoktwi' inside the restaurant and in the restrooms. Song said, "As many customers visit the outdoor tables, incidents of people running off without paying have frequently occurred," adding, "Although it is troublesome, when amounts of around 80,000 to 90,000 won are repeatedly unpaid, the damage inevitably grows, so we report these cases to the police." He continued, "When we hand over CCTV footage to the police and the forensic team arrives to conduct fingerprint analysis and investigations, most of the culprits are caught, and usually the cases end in settlements."

Kim (71), who has been operating a restaurant near Song’s establishment for 14 years, shared a similar situation. Kim said, "It is somewhat easier to monitor indoor tables, but when customers are outdoors, it’s hard to tell if they just stepped away briefly to smoke or if they ran off, making management difficult," adding, "Our restaurant doesn’t even have CCTV, so it’s hard to catch them, and even when we report to the police, sometimes they can’t catch the culprit for four months, so we are half giving up."

In fact, incidents related to 'meoktwi' have been rapidly increasing recently. According to the National Police Agency, the number of reported cases of dine-and-dash and fare evasion last year reached 120,818, the highest in the past decade. Considering cases where people did not report to the police due to small amounts, the actual number of dine-and-dash incidents is believed to be even higher.

Because of this, more businesses are adopting kiosks or table orders that require prepayment, but small business owners feel burdened by installation costs, making even this difficult. Han (56), who runs a restaurant in Jung-gu, Seoul, said, "We only set up outdoor tables briefly in spring and autumn, and the cost of installing table orders seems too high, so we decided to hold off," adding, "When there are many additional orders, prepayment can be inconvenient for customers, so I’m not sure what to do."

In cases of dine-and-dash, if the damage is large and habitual, charges of fraud can be applied, but most cases are classified as minor offenses, resulting in fines or penalties of less than 100,000 won. Because the punishment level is relatively low, many repeat offenders receive criminal penalties multiple times. In April, a man in his 50s in Gwangju, who had been criminally punished about 100 times for similar offenses, was arrested after running off without paying 5.6 million won for drinks on nine occasions.

Experts emphasize that as more self-employed business owners suffer from dine-and-dash, legal reinforcement and a broader societal awareness improvement are necessary. Kim Do-woo, a professor in the Department of Police Administration at Gyeongnam University, said, "As the term 'meoktwi' suggests, dine-and-dash is regarded lightly across society and is mostly punished as a minor offense," adding, "Since the economic situation has changed significantly since the law was enacted, legislative strengthening should be implemented in line with changes in the social environment."

Gwak Dae-kyung, a professor at Dongguk University’s Police and Judicial College, said, "Strengthening punishment is necessary, but since it takes time for laws to settle, the fastest solution is for business owners to change their operating methods and for customers’ awareness to change together," adding, "Especially when dining at outdoor tables, it seems necessary to operate by including notices on menus requesting prepayment for orders above a certain amount and asking for customers’ cooperation."

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