Public Urination on Restaurant Terrace After Closing
One Person Relieves Themselves While Another Keeps Watch
Maximum Fine of 100,000 Won Under Minor Offenses Act
Despite a world filled with closed-circuit (CC) TVs everywhere, there are still people who urinate on the street. Recently, a woman was caught on CCTV opening an umbrella and urinating on the terrace of a restaurant after business hours, sparking controversy. A, a self-employed person in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, told JTBC's 'Sageonbanjang' on the 21st, "I experienced a ridiculous incident at my store on the rainy day of the 18th."
A said that due to the weather, they closed the business early that day and later returned to the restaurant only to find that the umbrellas in the umbrella stand were missing. Checking the store's CCTV, they witnessed a somewhat shocking scene. Two women appeared in front of the darkened restaurant terrace, and one of them unfolded the umbrellas in the stand, took one, and disappeared with her companion.
Just when it seemed they took the umbrella because there was none left, the two women reappeared at A's restaurant shortly after, using the stolen umbrella. Then, one of them placed the opened umbrella on the ground, suddenly pulled down her pants, sat down, and urinated right there. The other woman seemed to be keeping watch, looking around.
A said, "Next to the store is a popular barbecue restaurant, so it can be crowded until late, but I wonder how someone can behave like this. I can understand if they took an umbrella in an emergency. But public urination is too much. I reported it to the police." However, the police said it was difficult to track their movements and they could not catch them, adding that the case might be registered as an unsolved incident.
"Can a normal person do this?"... Subject to Minor Offenses Act
A similar case occurred in May last year. At that time, a story was posted on an online community saying, "A male customer urinated on the terrace of the restaurant run by my mother." The poster, B, said, "It was the first time experiencing such a thing, so it was very embarrassing, and my mother is having a hard time."
The CCTV footage B shared shows a man wearing a black T-shirt standing in what appears to be the restaurant terrace, urinating. According to B, the man was not intoxicated.
B said, "There is a restroom right inside if you open the door. I can understand a hundred times if someone urinates on the street across the road, but is it common sense to urinate on the terrace? My mother saw it herself, but it was hard and scary to protest to a strong man, so she closed the store early and just complained to us." Then, B criticized, "In these tough economic times and scary world, running a restaurant, can a normal person do this?"
According to Article 3 of the Minor Offenses Act, anyone who urinates or defecates in public places such as streets or parks where many people gather or pass by, and does not clean up, may be fined up to 100,000 won, detained, or penalized.
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