Forgery and Tampering of IDs, Scam and Defamation... Self-Employed Workers' Complaints Heard by Yoon

Drinking elsewhere and coming in,
recruiting from competing stores and deploying,
using forged or altered resident registration cards, etc.

President Yoon Suk-yeol is speaking at the "Public Discussion on Livelihoods with the People - Tenth Session, Small and Medium Enterprises and Small Business Owners Running Together, A Livable Economy" held on the 8th at Layer57 in Seongdong-gu, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]

President Yoon Suk-yeol, upon hearing the unfair stories of self-employed business owners who were suspended from business after minors disguised their identity to drink alcohol and voluntarily reported themselves, stated, "Minors who drink alcohol and buy cigarettes and voluntarily report themselves should not be punished." He then sent an official letter to local governments to immediately prevent basic local governments from taking administrative actions.

On the 8th, President Yoon listened to the grievances of self-employed business owners at the tenth public discussion on livelihood titled "Small and Medium Enterprises and Small Business Owners Running Together, A Livelihood Economy Worth Living" held at the complex cultural space 'Layer57' in Seongsu-dong, Seoul. Jung Sang-hoon, the owner of a pork barbecue restaurant in Mapo, was suspended from business in November 2022 after a minor intentionally drank alcohol and voluntarily reported it. Yeo Seok-nam, who operates a direct sales center in Oido, said, "My daughter sold cigarettes to a minor wearing a mask and hat and was reported, resulting in a fine of 600,000 won for my daughter and a business suspension for the store," adding, "We should not only burden small business owners, but there should also be penalties for bad minors."

After listening to the stories, President Yoon said, "Even if the law is amended later, immediately send official letters to all local governments to prevent basic local governments from taking administrative actions based on such cases," and within three hours of his directive, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, which oversees the Food Sanitation Act, sent official letters to local governments requesting careful handling of administrative actions or prosecutions so that sellers are not penalized if it is proven that they checked the ID even when selling alcohol to minors.

Previously, cases had been increasing where minors deceived self-employed business owners by using someone else's ID or forged IDs to purchase alcohol or cigarettes and then voluntarily reported themselves, causing the stores to be suspended from business. This led to growing calls for punishment targeting the buyers rather than the sellers.

"Obviously Not a Minor... Drinking Again at Another Store After Being Caught"

A banner displayed by a restaurant that was suspended from business due to the so-called 'underage staff deployment' tactic by a competing business. [Image source=Online community capture]

On the 17th of last month, a post titled "Minors Are Innocent, I Paid a 30 Million Won Fine, Is This a Fair Society?" was uploaded on an online community and became a hot topic. A self-employed person A, who runs a jokbal (pig's trotters) restaurant, stated, "I was caught in a minor alcohol crackdown on Christmas Day." A explained, "Around 10:30 PM on Christmas, two women who were already intoxicated visited the store," adding, "They were already drunk, wearing revealing clothes and heavy makeup, so the part-time worker thought they were adults. Because it was Christmas and busy, the resident registration card was not checked. Moreover, my restaurant has a higher price range and jokbal on the menu, so teenagers were not the main customers, which led to negligence."

What angered him even more was that the minors continued to post about drinking on their social media. A said, "Three days after being caught at our store, instead of reflecting, they posted photos of alcohol and side dishes at another bar on their Instagram story," pointing out, "Not only during the year-end and New Year period but also yesterday, they posted photos of alcohol and side dishes, as well as pictures with friends taken at bars." He expressed frustration, saying, "Minors who deceive adults and roam bars like ticking time bombs are innocent, and they frequent bars daily," and "Those minors are protected and supported by the country under the law."

Later, the minors called A and said, "We will come to pick up the electronic cigarettes, so please prepare them well," to which A responded bitterly, "How confident and fearless of adults must they be to say such things while drinking?"

Also, on the 11th of last month, a post titled "Angry Store Owner Due to Minor's Entry into Bar" was uploaded on an online community along with a photo of a banner hung in front of a bar. According to the banner, owner B appeared to have been targeted by a so-called "minor insertion operation," where minors were employed by nearby stores to drink alcohol and then reported.

Through the banner, B said, "You who inserted minors into our store, make a lot of money during the 30-day business suspension," and added, "The minor who came last November, live properly. Because of you, four people who support their families lost their livelihoods. You may be immature and thoughtless now, but I hope you remember the wrongs you committed when you grow up and become adults."

In December last year, a story surfaced where minors who ordered 160,000 won worth of food and alcohol at a restaurant left threatening notes saying "You did not check IDs" and fled, causing public outrage online.

Mobile Resident Registration Card Verification Service Forgery and Use of Forged Physical Resident Registration Cards

A forged resident registration card post uploaded on a popular secondhand trading site. [Image source=Online community capture]

Until the revised Resident Registration Act was enforced in December last year, there were cases of minors fraudulently using images of others' resident registration cards. Minors presented forged or altered images through the mobile resident registration card verification service when purchasing alcohol or cigarettes, causing self-employed business owners to be unfairly suspended from business. Previously, there was no regulation punishing the use of image files instead of originals, so minors could not be punished for fraudulent use. However, the revised law clarified that using image files or copies fraudulently is punishable.

There are also cases of forging physical resident registration cards. In 2021, a popular secondhand trading site had multiple posts offering "custom-made IDs mainly for youths" with photos of forged IDs attached. The cost for forging an ID was 50,000 won. The bigger problem was that such forged ID posts were easily found not only on the secondhand trading site but also on social media. As cases increased where sellers were penalized due to these forged IDs, the Food Sanitation Act was amended in June 2021 to allow sanctions when minors forged or used others' IDs and food service business owners did not know they were minors.