A dispute over alleged worth gouging at Seoul’s Gwangjang Market has escalated, with a vendor and a well-liked YouTuber publicly clashing over what occurred throughout a current go to.
The controversy has renewed scrutiny of long-standing complaints about overpriced meals and unfriendly service on the conventional market.
The strain started after the YouTube channel “Bizarre Sweets Store,” which has 1.49 million subscribers, posted a video on Nov. 4 titled “This makes me by no means need to go to Gwangjang Market once more.”
Within the clip, the creator criticizes a number of distributors for what she described as impolite service, menu switching, and unhygienic meals dealing with. The video topped 4million views simply in two days.
The YouTuber claimed that she ordered an 8,000-won ($6) sundae (pig intestines full of glass noodles) however was as a substitute charged for a ten,000-won “blended sundae.”
In response, the seller on the middle of the dispute mentioned she feels wronged. Talking to Channel A reporters at Gwangjang Market on Wednesday, she mentioned, “I requested her if she needed the meat blended, and he or she mentioned sure. After she completed consuming and requested for the value, I instructed her it was 10,000 received [$7]. She began swearing and tried to tear me aside.”
The seller additionally claimed she finally accepted 8,000 received after the YouTuber stored complaining. The Gwangjang Market retailers affiliation additionally sided with the seller, saying it appeared the YouTuber had approached the stall “with intent.”
The YouTuber firmly rejected these claims in a pinned remark posted on Thursday. She mentioned the plate she obtained matched the usual sundae portion she ordered, not the “blended sundae” that prices extra. She added that nobody requested her whether or not she needed meat added and denied displaying any aggressive habits.
She additionally mentioned she paid the complete 10,000 received, noting that the quantity is recorded in her financial institution switch historical past.
On the retailers affiliation’s suggestion that she acted deliberately, she wrote, “If that’s actually their official stance, it is vitally disappointing.”
She confused, “The video was not meant to single out any particular person store. I needed to indicate the fact of how a market steadily visited by international vacationers is being run.”
She additionally identified hygiene points at a noodle store featured within the video. “I noticed the prepare dinner put leftover noodles from a earlier buyer’s bowl immediately into the pot of boiling water. Anybody would see that as a hygiene drawback.”
With the video persevering with to unfold, native authorities are starting to step in. Seoul Metropolis mentioned it is going to examine Gwangjang Marketplace for worth practices, customer support, and hygiene.
The Jongno District Workplace additionally introduced plans to introduce a “vendor name-tag system” by the top of the 12 months to enhance accountability and rebuild public belief.
This text from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Occasions, is translated by generative AI and edited by The Korea Occasions.
