Anti-graft law sends firms, eateries scurrying for cheaper menus
By Choi Sung-jin
Since the Constitutional Court upheld the most stringent anti-corruption law the nation has ever seen last week, both restaurants and their clients have been busy developing and finding cheaper menus, business sources said Friday.
The Law on Prohibiting Illegal Solicitation and Bribery Acceptance, or the “Kim Young-ran law” named after the former head of the national anti-corruption agency who drafted it, calls for, among other things, limiting the price of meals for entertainment purposes to 30,000 won ($27) and gifts to 50,000 won ($45) per person.
Business officials whose main duty is to entertain influential people are making a list of “Young-ran restaurants” _ cheaper but tasty eateries _ and restaurants are developing or concocting “Young-ran courses.”
An entertainment department of a large company situated in Seoul’s Gwanghwamun area has made a list of must-stop places that sell meals priced below 30,000 per head, including a famous restaurant specializing in hangover soup and a place known for Pyongyang-style cold noodles in the area near their headquarters. Dropped from the list are those restaurants known for expensive Korean beef and traditional full-course meals.
“CEOs and ranking bureaucrats prefer quiet restaurants with rooms but these are difficult to find among places with meals priced below 30,000 won,” a PR department officer of the company said.
An Internet blog has introduced a new feature listing eateries selling inexpensive but delicious food in each district of Seoul.
Hotels and expensive restaurants are trying to adapt themselves to the new trend, developing lower-priced menus, such as the 28,000-won lunchbox, and the “Young-ran set” complete with boiled rice, 300 grams of U.S. beef and two bottles of beer or soju.
Others are trying to turn the crisis into opportunity, unifying all of their menus into 29,000-won sets and staging extensive PR activities portraying themselves as restaurants taking the lead in the social purification campaign.
The business sources say they are not sure how long this trend will continue given their previous experience of returning to business as usual after a temporary hubbub, but expect the current atmosphere will last longer than before, as seen by the government’s determined stance.