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A restaurant-lined street in Seoul’s Songpa District bustles with people on the evening of April 4, the day that Korea eased social distancing measures to allow for private gatherings of up to 10 people and facilities like cafes and restaurants to stay open until midnight. (Yonhap News)

Excitement is in the air as South Korea gradually eases the social distancing regulations it first implemented on May 3, 2020, early in the COVID-19 pandemic. As the government looks into completely lifting all such restrictions on April 18, there’s growing public anticipation about finally returning to “normal life.” The small business owners who’ve been among those hit hardest by the pandemic are hopeful that once social distancing is over, their sales will rebound to pre-COVID levels.

On Monday, when Korea raised the cap on private gatherings to 10 people and extended business hours for many facilities to midnight in what will likely be the final slate of social distancing rules, nightlife districts around the country were bustling as dusk set in.

The neighborhood around Jeongja Station (in Bundang District, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province), which is home to the headquarters of such conglomerates as Naver and the Doosan Group, was crowded with office workers in their 30s and 40s. Restaurants and bars that had been largely deserted just this past winter were so busy that the laughter filling them could be heard even on nearby sidewalks.

One bar took down a sign that had hung up through last week which said, “Day drinking is welcome.”

“I put that sign up because we’d been getting a lot of customers in the early evening. But we don’t need it anymore,” said the owner, surnamed Chung.

“I don’t think we’ll see people watching the clock over dinner and drinks anymore,” observed Park, an office worker who was at the bar.

The owners of restaurants specializing in Chinese food and other cuisines said that the extended business hours haven’t made much of a difference, since they typically close around 9 pm anyway. “But now that more people are allowed to get together, our situation seems to be improving,” one said.

“The mood is different today,” said an individual surnamed Oh, the owner of a barbecue restaurant in the area, on the first day of the relaxed rules.

“If the social distancing rules are completely lifted, as everyone hopes, I think our sales will return to pre-COVID levels,” said Oh, as they hurried around the restaurant.

The mood was similar outside of the greater Seoul area.

“Since a lot of our customers had been coming here for their second or third stop of the night, we were hit hard by the business hour restrictions. Now that closing time has been extended to midnight, sales and customers seem to have gone up a bit, though not to where they were before the pandemic,” said an individual surnamed Kim, 54, who runs a bar in the Onui neighborhood of Chuncheon, Gangwon Province.

A Korean restaurant called Gyejeol Ttara (With the Seasons), in the Dong District of eastern Gwangju, is planning to reopen on Friday. The restaurant had switched to fixing lunch boxes for delivery after sales plummeted during the pandemic.

“After more than two years, things finally seem to be getting a little better. We’re planning to reopen for business now that spring is here,” said Oh Jeong-seon, the restaurant’s owner, in a text message Tuesday to his regular customers.

Some are calling on the government to accelerate the end of all social distancing requirements.

“People are contacting us to make reservations for groups of 10 or more. There seems to be a lot less fear about COVID-19. Since people were so good about obeying the rules, I think it’s time to quickly lift the cap on private gatherings,” said an individual surnamed Yun, who manages a Japanese restaurant in downtown Seoul.

“As the social distancing rules are gradually eased, it feels like we can breathe again. I hope they completely lift the restrictions in two weeks,” said an individual surnamed Jang, 39, who runs a seafood restaurant on Seomyeon Young Street in Busan.

People crowd around Yeojwa Stream in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, on April 1 to see the cherry blossoms. (provided by Changwon City)

Sightseers are flocking to the southern regions, where spring comes early.

The Jinhae Gunhang (Naval Port) Festival is the country’s biggest cherry blossom festival, drawing 3 million people in late March and early April each year. While the festival hasn’t been held for three years now, since 2020, the area’s cherry blossom paths were crowded with visitors on Tuesday. Changwon barred all vehicles and sightseers in 2020, but has allowed visitors in since last year.

“Last year, we had around 80,000 visitors to Yeojwa Stream and Gyeonghwa Station” — two of the most popular sites for viewing cherry blossoms — “in the peak cherry blossom period from March 27 to April 2. But this year, there were more than 90,000 visitors just on April 2, a Saturday, and more than 80,000 on April 3,” said Kong Jong-bae, who works in Changwon’s department of tourism.

Visitors also streamed into a historical site in Yeongnam County connected with famed scholar Wang In, which is one of the best places to view cherry blossoms in South Jeolla Province.

Seoul’s famed cherry blossom streets are fully reopening after a two-year hiatus. The street in Yeouido, in Seoul’s Yeongdeungpo District — which attracts the biggest crowds — will be open to visitors from April 9 to April 17. The street around Seokchon Lake, in the city’s Songpa District, opened on March 25 and will remain open through April 10.

Seocho District is also making its major streamside cherry blossom areas, including one along the Yangjae Stream, available from March 30 to April 15.

On Monday, the South Korean government eased social distancing requirements for the next two weeks, allowing restaurants and cafés to host private gatherings of up to 10 people and to stay open until midnight. The government is considering the option of lifting all social distancing requirements (except for masking inside and other essential regulations) as long as the daily caseload and the healthcare system capacity remain stable over the next two weeks.

By Kim Gi-seong, South Gyeonggi correspondent

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