hankyoreh

Officers from the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency and USFK military police patrol Haeundae Beach in Busan on Sunday to enforce COVID-19 safety regulations. (provided by the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency)

Non-Korean nationals, including US service members, violated COVID-19 regulations at Haeundae Beach in Busan, but none of them were given a fine, the Hankyoreh has learned. The law needs to be made tougher so it can be better enforced, critics say.

Sources in Busan’s Haeundae District told the Hankyoreh on Monday that the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act only allows people to take off their masks on public beaches around the country when they’re at least 2 meters away from other people. Violations can be punished with a fine of up to 100,000 won (US$90.25).

The South Korean government’s disease control regulations also ban private gatherings of five or more people. Thus, gatherings of five or more people on a public beach are subject to the same fine, even if the people gathering are friends or family members.

A Korean law governing the use and management of public beaches allows the consumption of food and beverages on the sand, but only for groups of four people or less. The same law penalizes shooting off firecrackers on the sand with a fine of 50,000 won (US$45.12).

The problem is that it is more difficult to fine non-Koreans. Haeundae District and local police received numerous reports of a crowd of foreigners that included USFK soldiers — with total estimates ranging from 500 people according to police to 2,000 according to the district — drinking and setting off firecrackers without masks on at Haeundae Beach between the evening of Saturday and early morning Sunday.

District employees and police visited the scene in response, but no one was fined. Instead, a total of 360 warnings were issued. It was a second case of USFK soldiers violating disease prevention guidelines after a previous one in July 2020.

“When you ask the foreigners violating disease prevention guidelines to present identification so that you can fine them, they all refuse,” said one of the employees in the policing effort at Haeundae Beach.

“You can’t drag them away by force, so all you can do is ask them to cooperate and observe disease prevention guidelines,” the employee said.

Haeundae District has looked to the police for help. But the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency said, “The guidelines state that we are to actively cooperate when the local government asks for assistance with policing, but the authority to crack down on Infectious Disease Prevention Act violations lies with the local government.”

“The police can only send large numbers of forces in to respond preemptively to things like violence and drinking-related disturbances,” it said.

But the police can punish the detonation of firecrackers on Haeundae Beach. In July 2020, police arrested a USFK soldier for setting off firecrackers on Haeundae Beach and fined them 50,000 won for violating the Punishment of Minor Offenses Act.

USFK spokesperson Col. Lee Peters said, “USFK is aware of the alleged behavior at Haeundae Beach and is cooperating with the [Korean National Police] — who maintain jurisdiction of this investigation — and local authorities to determine if USFK-affiliated individuals were involved.”

A Haeundae District official said, “We need to clearly specify in the law that people can be punished for refusing to verify their identity when they violate disease prevention guidelines, and USFK needs to educate its troops to abide rigorously by the Republic of Korea’s disease control guidelines when they are out.”

By Kim Kwang-soo, Busan correspondent

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