The Supreme Court has ruled that "room cafes"—private, enclosed rooms equipped with TVs—should be classified as businesses banned from allowing youth entry and employment.

The Supreme Court's First Division (presiding Justice Seo Kyung-hwan) recently overturned a lower court ruling that acquitted a business owner, identified as Mr. A, who was indicted for violating the Youth Protection Act, and remanded the case to the Suwon District Court.

Mr. A operated a room cafe consisting of 16 rooms in Suwon from March 2022 to February 2023.

Among the total rooms, two had transparent glass windows on their doors allowing visibility into the interior, while the remaining 14 were enclosed spaces where the inside could not be seen.

Each room was furnished with mats, pillows, and a TV where people could lie down or sit.

Mr. A was brought to trial for violating the Youth Protection Act by failing to attach a sign designating the establishment as a "youth access and employment restricted business" at the entrance and allowing eight youths aged 14 to 17 to enter.

The core issue of the trial was whether a room cafe could be regarded as a youth access and employment restricted business under the Youth Protection Act.

The Youth Protection Act defines such establishments as businesses that "provide services where there is a risk of sexual acts, such as physical contact or exposure of intimate body parts between unspecified persons, or similar acts, as determined by the Youth Protection Committee and announced by the Minister of Gender Equality and Family."

The first instance court found that the room cafe met this definition and sentenced Mr. A to a fine of 2 million won, but the second instance court overturned this and acquitted him.

The appellate court interpreted the phrase "acts such as physical contact between unspecified persons" specified in the Youth Protection Act as referring to cases where "acts such as physical contact occur between entertainment hosts and unspecified customers, or where unspecified customers who do not know each other are connected so that physical contact occurs between unspecified customers."

It then judged that Mr. A did not hire entertainment hosts to provide services such as sexual acts, did not connect unspecified customers with each other, and that the room cafe was not a business operation with a risk of physical contact taking place.

However, the Supreme Court overturned the appellate ruling, stating, "The business format of a youth access and employment restricted business stipulated in the Youth Protection Act cannot be interpreted as being limited to cases where physical contact or other acts occur 'between an entertainment host and an unspecified customer' or 'between unspecified customers who do not know each other.'"

The Supreme Court ruled, "This room cafe is a place available for use by unspecified customers, structured in a way that makes it difficult to see the interior from outside the rooms, and corresponds to a business format where there is a risk that physical contact such as kissing or sexual acts could take place inside."

(Photo: Yonhap News)