Why Make Such a Fuss Over "Dubai Chewy Cookies"? Children Made to Wait in Line Chanting "One, Two" in Minus 8 Degrees

Controversy Over Eyewitness Account on Online Community

Recently, as the "Dubai chewy cookie" craze continues to sweep Korea, eyewitness accounts have emerged of young children waiting in line for a long time in cold weather in front of a bakery in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.

On January 8, a post titled "Why are Dubai chewy cookies so special? I'm furious about the daycare center's behavior" was uploaded to an online community. The author, identified as A, said they visited the bakery around 10 a.m. that day to buy Dubai chewy cookies and witnessed a disturbing scene.

Children waiting in front of a famous bakery in Jeongja-dong. Screenshot from an online community.

Arriving before opening hours and waiting in line, A saw a woman, presumed to be a daycare teacher, with eight children around four years old trying to line up in front of the store despite the subzero temperatures.

A, who was first in line, said that by the time the store opened at 11 a.m. and they bought their cookies and left, the children had been waiting in the cold for about an hour. A commented, "At first, I thought they were just out for a walk from a local daycare, but as time passed and the children didn't leave, I started to feel something was wrong."

While waiting for the store to open, the children briefly moved to a nearby alley, but about 40 minutes after A had joined the line, they looked back and saw the children sitting in a circle directly on the ground. A also shared a photo of the scene.

A said, "About 10 minutes after I finished paying and came back out, the children were still standing in line with the same teacher," adding, "I got angry all over again at that moment. This just isn't right in such cold weather."

When confronted, the teacher explained, "We sometimes give salt bread as a snack. We usually go for hour-long walks." A pointed out, "That's fine when the weather is nice, but not on a day as cold as this." Only then did the teacher reportedly tell the children to get ready to leave.

The lowest temperature in Jeongja-dong, Bundang, that day was minus 8 degrees Celsius.

A claimed that when the children complained about being cold, the teacher tried to keep them moving by chanting "one, two" and encouraging them to move their bodies.

After the story was released, criticism spread online. Netizens commented, "Minus 8 degrees is tough even for adults," and "Even if the kids wanted to eat the cookies, this is not acceptable."