South Korea retracts ban on ballpark beer vendors

By Park Sae-jin Posted : April 21, 2016, 11:06 Updated : April 21, 2016, 11:06

[AP=Yonhap News]


South Korea's tax authorities retracted its controversial decision Thursday to ban ballpark beer vendors, bowing to angry protests from baseball fans.

The turnaround came days after baseball stadiums kicked out "Beer Boys" delivering a keg of draught beer to fans sitting in the stands, under guidelines from the National Tax Service and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

The short-lived ban has triggered an angry protest from South Korean baseball fans who regard beer as a regular and natural companion at the ballparks like their counterparts in the United States and Japan.

Beer vendors have been a ballpark fixture for decades at South Korean stadiums where a combination of fried chicken and beef called "chimaek" has been a representative ballpark snack.

Neither fried chicken nor beer originated in South Korea, but a combination of these two overseas imports has become a culturally significant force in drinking culture here.

To ban beer vendors at the stadiums, South Korean government officials had invoked a law which allows alcohol sales only at designated places like restaurants and bars. Theoretically, mobile sales of beer are prohibited.

Government officials insisted the ban was aimed at reducing youth exposure and accessibility to alcohol.

Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
기사 이미지 확대 보기
닫기