"Outdoor Cooking Was Okay?" Why a Gangnam BBQ Restaurant YouTuber Filed an Administrative Lawsuit

Grilling Meat Outdoors Is Illegal...Fines and Business Suspension
"We Were Preparing to Comply with District Office Supervision...This Is Too Much"

A YouTuber who was fined and had their business suspended for illegal outdoor cooking at a barbecue restaurant filed an administrative lawsuit and an objection. According to Yonhap News and others on the 26th, YouTuber Seong Myeong-jun filed a lawsuit on the 8th at the Seoul Administrative Court against Gangnam District Office, requesting the cancellation of the fine imposed.

The barbecue restaurant operated by Seong near Apgujeong in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, appears to be entirely indoors from the outside, but according to the building register, half of the business space is classified as indoor and the other half as outdoor. Seong had prepared for both indoor and outdoor operations after being told by the previous business operator that cooking and operating with a gas burner outdoors was not a problem. He also reported this to the district office, which approved it in November last year.

However, about four months later, on March 25, the district office imposed a fine of 7.42 million won, citing that outdoor cooking was illegal. In response, Seong changed the operation so that customers could grill meat indoors as before, but outdoors, employees would grill the meat in the kitchen and bring it to the customers. While preparing the facilities and hiring additional staff for this, the district office conducted a third inspection within about two weeks, and Seong received a 15-day business suspension order.

Outdoor space of the barbecue restaurant operated by Seong Myeongjun [Image source=Provided by Seong Myeongjun]

Through Yonhap News, Seong said, "I trusted the previous owner who said there was no problem, and the district office approved the business report, so I thought there was no issue," adding, "If I had known that customers could not grill the meat themselves, I would not have opened the barbecue restaurant." He filed an administrative lawsuit against the fine and an objection against the business suspension.

Seong lamented, "It is too much to suspend the business while I was preparing to comply with the district office's supervision," and said, "Who would want to come to a barbecue restaurant where they cannot grill the meat themselves? Sales have also dropped significantly." Attorney Jeong Gu-seung of the law firm Ilo, representing Seong, stated, "Since Seong is a well-known figure running a YouTube channel, continuous reports were made, and it seems he was subjected to second and third inspections without enough time to respond," and added, "It is unusual and possibly illegal to impose a business suspension just two weeks after the fine."

Attorney Jeong said, "The district office approved the business report for the type of operation where meat is grilled and eaten, and although the administrative regulations imposed a legislative obligation, no legislation was enacted, and imposing fines and business suspensions on the grounds of no ordinance is undesirable and unequal compared to other regions."

Eating food or drinking beverages on the street was illegal in South Korea but changed in 2012 to require local government permission for outdoor operations, and in 2020, it was basically permitted. Outdoor cooking was prohibited for safety reasons, but with the growing popularity of the so-called 'Yajang' culture, especially among young people, outdoor cooking such as grilling meat or heating soup using gas burners remained a customary practice.

Reflecting these lifestyle changes, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety amended the Enforcement Rules of the Food Sanitation Act in May last year to allow local government heads discretion to permit outdoor cooking in 'general areas not adjacent to residential areas and without fire risk.' In August 2022, the ministry selected this as a representative case among the 'Top 100 Regulatory Innovation Tasks' and promoted it extensively. Cities such as Uijeongbu and Seongnam in Gyeonggi Province, Yeongdo-gu in Busan, and Suseong-gu in Daegu have enacted ordinances allowing outdoor cooking using gas burners.

However, district offices in Seoul have not yet established separate ordinances regarding this. A Gangnam District Office official stated, "Due to the characteristics of Gangnam-gu, noise and environmental issues may arise, and there are currently many complaints about illegal outdoor operations," adding, "We are not currently considering drafting an ordinance to allow outdoor cooking."