[Anchor]

Starting today (Sep. 1), restaurants caught overcharging customers will face business suspension on their first offense. While regulatory penalties have been significantly strengthened, critics point out that the measures may fall short.

Reporter Han Sung-hee looks into the reasons why.

[Reporter]

Gwangjang Market in Seoul, a popular spot among foreign visitors.

Despite it being a rainy weekday morning, the market is bustling with tourists.

Controversy over overcharging has erupted here on multiple occasions.

[Do you have water? How much is it? (It is 2,000 won.)]

Some vendors sell items not listed on the menu or charge prices higher than what is displayed.

[Daigi Fukui / Foreign Tourist: If a shop charges excessively like that, we would have no choice but to go somewhere else.]

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has tightened administrative dispositions to eradicate overcharging.

Previously, a first-time offense for overcharging resulted only in a corrective order, but starting today, businesses will face immediate suspension.

A first violation carries a 5-day suspension, a second violation 10 days, and a third violation 20 days.

The measures apply to 960,000 restaurants nationwide, including regular eateries, snack bars, and fast-food chains.

However, street stalls are not classified as business operators under the Food Sanitation Act and are therefore exempt from business suspensions.

Even within the same market, officially licensed food service establishments are subject to penalties, while street stalls are not.

[Restaurant Owner: What is the point of threatening business suspensions? Not a single violation like that came from actual shops, they only came from street stalls...]

[Lee Sung-bok / Street Stall Vendor: Because there has been so much controversy over overcharging, all the stall merchants are making efforts among themselves...]

Furthermore, cases where vendors add unrequested items to an order to charge more, or charge exorbitantly high prices compared to other stores from the outset, are excluded from penalties as long as the prices are displayed on the menu, leaving authorities reliant on self-disciplinary measures by merchant associations.

(Photo courtesy of Yonhap News)
(Camera Reporter: Lee Byung-joo, Video Editor: Park Na-young)