At 8 p.m. on the 27th, near Jongno 3-ga Station in Seoul, in an on-street parking lot. Under a banner reading "No cooking or open flames in the public parking lot," rows of pocha (street bar tents) moved in. Parked cars, pocha, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders were jumbled together. A passerby said, "Cars and gas cylinders are pressed up against each other, and seeing burners (open flames) in use makes me uneasy."
It was past the evening commute, but traffic kept backing up as the pocha took over one lane. Office worker Lim, 28, shook a head, saying, "Because of the pocha, the number of lanes is reduced and it's annoying."
◇ Pocha occupying parking lots and roadways... open flames and gas cylinders are a "threat"
About 15 pocha are operating along the roughly 180 meters from Cheonggye 3-ga Intersection to Exit 13 of Jongno 3-ga Station. They moved from the main Jongno roadside to their current location in 2008 as part of a Seoul City policy project. The road is a three-lane one-way, but it narrows to two lanes where there are 10 on-street parking spaces. The pocha are set up over the parking spaces and the outer third lane.
The issue was triggered when the Parking Lot Act was revised in September last year. The amended law completely banned "cooking or open flames" inside parking lots. In response, some pocha moved their mobile prep counters onto the sidewalk, but the actual cooking continues on the roadway and in the parking spaces. Use of burners and other open flames remains the same.
Office worker Park, 30, said, "They use grills on tables set up on the roadway, but claim it's legal because the prep counter is on the sidewalk. I don't understand that."
LPG cylinders placed right next to parked cars are also a hazard. Vehicles contain many flammable materials such as fuel and oil, so even a small spark can lead to a major fire. Gong Ha-sung, a professor in the Department of Fire and Disaster Prevention at Woosuk University, said, "Using open flames in an area abutting the parking zone is not significantly different in risk from cooking within the parking zone."
◇ Not illegal but unsettling… citizens and merchants say it's "inconvenient"
Under current law, placing pocha on general roadways rather than in on-street parking lots is allowed. But this has effectively erased the right-turn lane function, causing congestion so heavy that traffic is backed up even after the evening commute.
The pocha tents shook violently every time a car passed. Park, an office worker in the 20s, said, "The roadway is right in front of us, and I worry what would happen if a car suddenly lunged toward the pocha."
Nearby businesses also face significant inconvenience. Most shops in this stretch sell industrial goods, so the commercial profile does not match the existing pocha street. A, the owner of an acrylic shop, said, "Starting at 5 p.m., the pocha set up, and the noise and vibrations from the work are severe," adding, "Grease smoke and bugs swarm, so hygiene has become a serious problem."
◇ "It's our livelihood for 20 years, how are we supposed to live?"... Jongno District says "forced action is difficult"
Pocha owners acknowledge the risks but stress that this is for "livelihood." Lee, a proprietor in the 60s who has run a pocha for 20 years, said, "We have lived on this work, so if it's banned even here, where are ordinary people supposed to go?" and added, "The inconvenience to traffic is unavoidable." Another owner, Baek, also said, "This is our livelihood, so you can't just get rid of it on a whim."
Pocha operations have long been entrenched as a practice, but critics say the workaround operations that persist in a legal gray area after the law was revised are putting public safety at risk.
Jongno District points to legal limits. Once cooking facilities are installed on the sidewalk, it is not a violation of the Parking Lot Act. A Jongno District official said, "Because these are livelihood street stalls, strong measures such as forcible removal are not easy," adding, "We are providing administrative guidance such as placing fire extinguishers to prepare for fire risks and offering safety education." The official added, "However, if they disrupt the pedestrian environment or expand operations, we do conduct enforcement."