Street vendors, restaurants at war in Myeong-dong

Chinese tourists wait in line to eat “japchae,” stir-fried glass noodles and vegetables, being sold by a street vendor in Myeong-dong, downtown Seoul, Feb. 25. / Korea Times photo by Kim Se-jeong

By Kim Se-jeong

Many Chinese visitors to Korea have changed the food consumption style in Myeong-dong, the busiest shopping district and must-go-to spot for tourists in central Seoul.

The main street starting from Noon Square building to Myeongdong Cathedral, as well as many side streets, is filled with street venders.

Items they sell are diverse, mostly food, ranging from bungeoppang (fish-shaped pastry with red bean paste) to jjajangmyeon (noodles with black soybean paste), dried fish, skewered beef, sausage, fried crab and squid, pomegranate juice and boiled sweet potato.

Prices are much cheaper than those served in a restaurant ― between 1,000 and 5,000 won.

These venders are extremely popular with Chinese tourists who stop by for a quick bite before going to other tourist spots. It is very common to see Chinese tourists standing in line to buy the food.

An anonymous tourist from Hong Kong who bought a bag of squid said the portion was big enough to be a meal.

The rise of street vendors is, however, coming as a threat to restaurant owners in the neighborhood.

Choi Shin-nyeo, who owns a Korean meat restaurant, said her six-year-old establishment has been hit hard as it has lost customers to street vendors.

Her restaurant is located in the back street across from the Korean National Commission for UNESCO headquarters. The road to her restaurant is half blocked from the main street by two carts.

After paying 10 million won for rent and hiring six employees, it is getting tough to make ends meet, she said.

Choi and almost 400 other restaurant owners in the district believe their losses are primarily caused by the thriving street vendors.

“For example, if four Chinese tourists come to my restaurant, they bring street food and order only two portions, saying they will eat the food here,” a waitress of another restaurant nearby said.

Those restaurant owners have urged the local district office to remove the venders completely from the street.

According to the Jung-gu office, almost 190 venders show up daily. Altogether, the number is estimated at 300.

They run without permission and pay no tax, which is a good reason for the district government to act, but it doesn’t.

“Myeong-dong has always had these people, who live off street stalls,” district official Park Sang-won said. “Also, the street vendors are important assets for tourism in Myeong-dong. We are working to find ways to make everyone prosper.”

But the restaurant owners do not think the street vendors suffer financially.

“They are like a big company, having several stalls and hiring part-timers,” Choi said, adding some stall owners are far better off than people think.

She also disagreed with the opinion that street vendors are tourism asset.

“These vendors are ruining the image of Myeong-dong, which has long been a symbol of up-scale shopping in Seoul. The street is dirty, and food smells penetrate shops.”

Visitors sometimes trip over the mountain of trash boxes or electric wires around the stalls on the street.

A representative for the street vendors refused to comment on the various issues.

The restaurant owners also criticized the district office’s lukewarm attitude, saying it has promised to do something for years with no outcome.

Amid the office’s inaction, the street food business has created other businesses ― parking lot owners rent their spaces to stalls overnight, and it is an open secret that popular spots for stalls are traded at tens of millions of won.

The restaurant owners said that problems have gone beyond the district office’s hand and the Seoul Metropolitan Government should intervene.

“It is time for the city of Seoul to move. Myeong-dong is a symbol of Seoul, and we can no longer endure inaction. And we pay tax every month,” Choi said.