Baemin accused of discrimination against foreigners
This screen capture shows a message which popped up when a foreign resident tried to use the service through the Baedal Minjok application, indicating that only Koreans can redeem gift certificates. Courtesy of foreign resident asking not to be named
By Jun Ji-hye
The country's largest food delivery app, Baedal Minjok, or Baemin, is facing criticism from foreign residents for not allowing non-Koreans to redeem gifts through the app.
One foreign resident called the practice “strange discrimination” against foreigners, citing that there are no problems receiving and redeeming gift certificates when using other services such as food delivery app Yogiyo or mobile messenger app Kakao Talk.
A foreign resident from Los Angeles, who has lived in Korea since 2004 and is currently working for an IT services company in Seoul, said he had an unpleasant experience recently due to exclusion from making full use of the Baemin application to redeem company-issued gift certificates when he and his co-workers held a company dinner via video conferencing software program Zoom.
Baedal Minjok's mobile app icon image / Korea Times file
The Zoom parties have replaced standard company dinners in order to comply with the government's social distancing rules, aimed at stemming COVID-19 infections, he said.
His team leader provided Baemin's gift certificates, so team members could order food online paid for by the company.
The man said his Korean co-workers were able to redeem their gift certificates without any problems through the app, but he was not able to do so. He received a message that indicated only Koreans can redeem gift certificates via the service.
“This does not make any sense to me,” the man said on condition of anonymity. “I am just upset for the foreign community who live in Korea. If they are placed in a similar situation, they would not be able to use this coupon and feel left out from society even more.”
He said he brought the issue to Baemin's customer service, asking about when the company would enable its app to allow foreign residents to redeem gift certificates.
In the replies to his multiple emails, the company first said, “We keep related information secret for security reasons,” and then said, “It is difficult for us to give a definite answer about when it would be possible for foreign residents to redeem gift certificates.”
He said, “Baemin is practicing some strange discrimination and is not providing reasons as to why they don't even want to support foreigners to redeem gifts on their app even in the Korean language.”
Regarding the issue, Woowa Brothers, the operator of Baedal Minjok, said its gift service is still in its early stages since it began last October, noting that the firm is planning to improve its service for foreign residents.
“It would take time because there are some procedures such as database linkage that are required to enable foreign residents to use the gift service, in accordance with Korea's anti-money laundering law,” an official from Woowa Brothers said.
The official added that the company's gift service is different from Kakao Talk's service as the latter is usually used to send actual items such as coffee and cosmetics, whereas Baemin's service is based on cash-like vouchers.