Gangwon Jeongseon District Office Books BBQ Restaurant for Seoul Workshop
'40 No-Shows'... "Difficult to Compensate Due to Outsourcing Company"
Website Criticism Flood... "We Will Compensate as Much as Possible"
Recently, the Jeongseon County Office in Gangwon Province, which caused controversy by reserving a table for 40 people at a barbecue restaurant in Yeouido, Seoul, and then failing to show up without notice, finally apologized, saying, "We will compensate as much as possible." Previously, they had stated that compensation was difficult because the reservation was made by an outsourced company, but they changed their stance after negative public opinion formed.
Jeongseon District Office 'No-show' Leaves BBQ Restaurant Empty. [Image source='Because It's Painful, It's the Boss' capture]
On the 31st, the bulletin board on the Jeongseon County Office website was flooded with posts expressing dissatisfaction over the so-called 'no-show controversy.' Netizens posted sharp criticisms such as "No-show public officials, please get a grip," "Are you still abusing your power?" "Who is the responsible official in charge?" "I came here angry after watching the broadcast," and "No-show county office, unbelievable." Since the related report on the 29th, about 100 critical posts have been uploaded as of that day.
Earlier, on the 28th, a post appeared on the self-employed community 'Apeunikka Sajangida' (Because It Hurts, I'm a Boss) stating that 40 people who had reserved a restaurant suddenly did not show up, ruining the business. Mr. A, who runs a barbecue restaurant in Yeouido, claimed, "Public officials made a group reservation for 40 people under the county office's name, but later denied making the reservation. When I played the recorded file, they finally apologized, saying they had forgotten about the reservation."
He added, "Our restaurant mostly operates on reservations. We lost business for the whole day. Since public officials always make reservations, we didn't bother to confirm by phone, but this situation happened," and posted a photo of the restaurant with side dishes and tableware set. Mr. A reportedly contacted the Jeongseon County Office for compensation but received a response along the lines of "We understand your feelings, but compensation is difficult."
According to JTBC's 'Incident Manager,' about 40 public officials from Jeongseon County went to Seoul for a one-night, two-day workshop on the 28th and 29th. The entire workshop event was entrusted to a private company, and the no-show incident occurred due to the company's mistake. However, as the controversy grew, a Jeongseon County official acknowledged the inadequate response and stated, "We will compensate the owner as much as possible according to their wishes."
Mr. A told JTBC, "Due to Yeouido's characteristics, there was no deposit required, and there had been no problems until now. This is the first no-show incident," and expressed frustration, saying, "They made a reservation, then lied saying 'We didn't reserve, I don't remember,' and only apologized after I played the recorded call, which is what angers me the most."
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