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A Seoul pharmacy selling publicly rationed masks on June 18. (Yonhap News)

Seoul’s subway app will soon enable users to report people who ride the subway without wearing a mask.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it will be adding an option to its proprietary metro app (called Tto Ta Jihacheol) on Aug. 3 by which app users can report passengers who aren’t wearing a mask.

When such a report is made, security staff will be immediately guided by the user’s GPS to the scene, where they will instruct the unmasked individual to buy a mask at a vending machine in the next station before boarding the subway again. Seoul plans to issue fines and take other stern measures against those who disobey instructions to wear a mask or who assault security staff.

Even though it’s now mandatory to wear masks on public transit, some people have refused to obey the rules and even attacked people urging them to do so. Such incidents convinced the city to open a channel for reporting scofflaws.

From May 13, when Seoul implemented “daily social distancing” on public transit, until July 15, the city fielded 16,631 complaints about subway passengers not wearing masks. There were also five cases in which subway employees asking passengers to wear masks were verbally abused or assaulted.

It’s not just a subway issue, either. During the same period, city buses have seen an average of 3.2 daily incidents in which passengers get into arguments about masks or where bus drivers are subjected to abusive language.

“Many subway passengers who see someone not wearing a mask have been reluctant to make a phone call on the spot. The app will simplify that process,” the city said.

By Song Gyung-hwa, staff reporter

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]