Police Tighten Quarantine Measures... 253 People Caught in Illegal Entertainment Venues Over One Week

24 Violations of the Infectious Disease Prevention Act
Special Crackdown on Entertainment Establishments Continues

Photo evidence of crackdown on illegal entertainment establishments.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] As the phased recovery of daily life (With Corona) has been halted and quarantine rules have been strengthened, the police are tightening their grip on quarantine enforcement again.

According to the National Police Agency on the 20th, the police, in cooperation with local governments and quarantine authorities, cracked down on 32 illegal entertainment establishments from the 13th to the 19th of this month, arresting 253 people. By type, violations of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act, including quarantine rule violations, were the most frequent with 24 cases involving 216 people, followed by one case of violation of the Food Sanitation Act involving 30 people, and seven cases of violation of the Music Industry Act involving seven people.

At around 1:30 a.m. on the 17th, an entertainment bar in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, was caught operating by moving customers and workers to a general restaurant through a secret passage, resulting in the arrest of 30 people including the owner. At around 2:30 a.m. on the 15th, three entertainment bars in Gyeyang-gu, Incheon, were caught secretly operating after locking their doors, with 18 people arrested.

Since the start of the '4th wave' in July, the police have continued special crackdowns on illegal entertainment establishments. So far, a total of 1,476 cases involving 11,213 people have been detected, surpassing 11,000 people in 24 weeks. Before the implementation of With Corona, an average of 72 cases and about 570 people were caught weekly, but after the ban on gatherings at entertainment facilities was lifted last month, the average weekly arrests dropped noticeably to 36 cases and 211 people over six weeks.

However, the number of people caught violating quarantine rules related to illegal entertainment establishments increased to 191 in the first week and 242 in the second week of this month. This is interpreted as a collapse of quarantine sentiment following the implementation of With Corona, as scenes of dozens of people dancing without masks in some indoor entertainment facilities were confirmed. Meanwhile, with quarantine rules strengthened from the 18th, limiting entertainment facility operating hours to 9 p.m., there is a possibility that violations of quarantine rules will increase again.

The police plan to extend the special crackdown period on illegal entertainment operations and crack down on ▲unauthorized operations ▲reopening of violating establishments ▲illegal operations of singing practice rooms ▲and other quarantine rule violations. A National Police Agency official said, "We will focus on cracking down on illegal operations such as violations of operating hour restrictions due to strengthened social distancing."