"Son of Competitive Bar Caught in Crackdown After Visiting with Underage Girlfriend" Outrage

"From now on, go to your mom's store" banner
Youth alcohol sales result in up to 2 months business suspension
Even if reduced on appeal, losses are severe

The owner of a hof pub who was suspended from business for selling alcohol to minors has sparked controversy by putting up a huge banner claiming it was a "scheme by the son of a competing bar."

On the 26th of last month, a post titled ‘To the grateful kid who got the Jeonju OOO hof pub in trouble, go and apologize~’ was uploaded on the online community site BobaeDream.

[Image source=Bobae Dream]

The author revealed the banner put up by the business owner, saying, “I wanted to have a beer on my way back from Jeonju Zoo today, but this was posted at the store.”

The banner, which announced the business suspension from the 20th of last month to the 21st of this month, read, "If you want to drink with your underage girlfriend, go to the ○○○○○ beer house run by your mother."

The claim is that the adult son of a competing business brought his underage girlfriend to drink, deliberately causing the crackdown. The hof pub owner said, "Thanks to you, I got a forced vacation of a whole month that I never had in my fate."

Many netizens sympathize with the hof pub owner’s anger. Comments such as "Usually, 90% of reports on entertainment and gambling come from competitors," and "It’s like the rival sent an assassin," are predominant.

Under current law, selling alcohol to youth results in business suspension from a minimum of 4 days to over 2 months and fines according to the Food Sanitation Act and Youth Protection Act. There are also many complaints from business owners who become innocent victims after being deceived by minors presenting forged or altered IDs.

It is stipulated that if a youth uses a stolen or forged ID and the business operator does not know the customer is a minor, or if the operator cannot verify the youth’s age due to assault or threats, administrative penalties can be waived. However, all losses incurred during the time taken to prove this must be borne by the business owner.