By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Coffee shop staff will no longer be asked to take regular medical checkups.
An anti-corruption body recommended Friday that the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs revise the current law requiring employees working in health- and sanitation-related industries such as clubs selling alcohol, massage facilities and coffee shops to have regular medical checkup to see if they have sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
Under the current scheme, employees working in espresso coffee shops and teashops are required to have a medical check every six months.
The health ministry was preparing for the revision bill last year in which it defined coffee shops as `` places that mainly makes and sells all kinds of coffees and teas.''
The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission said the term defined in the revision bill still includes espresso coffee shops and tea shops, which have nothing to do with prostitution and therefore the measure could infringe on their employees' rights.
The body recommended the health ministry specify the term into ``ticket-based coffee houses'' mostly located in small towns where employees who sell instant coffee are often involved in on-call basis prostitution.
The ministry adopted the revision recommendation for its bill.