By Yun Suh-young
Municipal authorities in Seoul have decided to impose a temporary suspension of livestock product sales on two stores of Costco, an American wholesale chain, for violating meat preservation regulations.
The decision came after city officials conducted inspections on three Costco stores located in Yeongdeungpo, Jungnang and Seocho Sunday.
The officials found 14 violations in the stores in categories such as fire protection, food preservation, recycling and construction.
The sales ban will last five days for Costco’s Yangjae branch in Seocho, southern Seoul, and seven days for its Sangbong branch in Jungnang, northern Seoul.
Last Wednesday, the city also found that Costco’s stores have violated a total of 41 regulations concerning sanitation, price tags, waste disposal, package design, parking and traffic control, emergency lighting, firefighting equipment and other safety measures.
The inspections were in response to Costco’s continued defiance of a disputed city ordinance that forces discount stores to close every other Sunday.
The city government has also decided to impose a fine of 60 million won on the company for not complying with the ordinance on three occasions.
In addition, it plans to order Costco to pay additional fines for violating the operational regulations.
The municipality has vowed to strengthen its crackdown on Costco and other rule-breaking stores.
Forty-two large discount stores and 87 super supermarkets (SSM) in Seoul, Daegu, and South Jeolla Province did not open Sunday, abiding by the disputed mandatory closure ordinance.