Former President Moon Jae-in has been fined for providing disposable items such as plastic cups at the Pyeongsan Bookstore cafe, where he works as a ‘bookstore keeper메이저놀이터‘.
On the 8th, Yangsan City, Gyeongnam Province, said, “We received a complaint that the Pyeongsan Bookstore Cafe provided disposable plastic cups, so we decided to fine them, and we are taking administrative procedures.” Pyeongsan Bookstore operates a cafe that sells drinks right next to the bookstore building under the name ‘Pyeongsan Bookstore Sarangbang’.
Yangsan City notified Pyeongsan Bookstore of the planned fine on the 26th of last month. The cafe will have until the 13th of this month to submit its opinion before the final decision on the fine is made.
The fine against Pyeongsan Bookstore Café began when someone posted an article on the National Human Rights Commission’s National Newspaper Report calling for a crackdown on Pyeongsan Bookstore Café’s use of disposable cups. Recently, an online community shared a post stating, “As a result of reporting the use of disposable products at Pyeongsan Bookstore to the National Human Rights Commission, I received a reply that the Yangshan City Resource Circulation Division fined the cafe. Netizens reported the incident after seeing many disposable cups in photos posted on social networking services (SNS) by people who visited Pyeongsan Bookstore.
“There is a situation that disposable plastic bottles and plastic straws are being provided to diners at a cafe in Pyeongsan Bookstore in Pyeongsan Village, Habuk-myeon, Yangsan-si, Gyeongnam, so please crack down on them,” the complainant requested. According to Article 10 of the Act on the Promotion of Resource Conservation and Recycling, businesses such as food service establishments are required to curb the use of disposable products and not provide them for free. Failure to comply will result in a fine of up to 3 million won. Paper cups have also been banned by law since November last year, but there is a one-year moratorium on punishment. Pyeongsan Bookstore has reportedly switched to paper cups following reports of such behavior.
The ban on the use of disposable products in food service outlets was first introduced in August 2018 during the Moon Jae-in administration. At the time, Cheong Wa Dae promoted photos of former President Moon, Chief of Staff Lim Jong-seok, and Chief of Staff Cho Kook holding tumblers or mugs in the run-up to the ban.
Cho Myung-rae, a former minister of the environment under Moon, criticized Yoon’s use of disposable products on March 3, saying it was “unthinkable under the previous government.” This has sparked controversy online, with photos of Moon using disposable cups from his time in office being reshared.