[르포]The first day of lifting the business restrictions in Busan’Phase 1.5’… ‘I finally got a breath.’

[르포]The first day of lifting the business restrictions for’Step 1.5′ in Busan… “Finally I ran out of breath”

Input: 2021-02-16 02:02:55Revision: 2021-02-16 07:32:57Published: 2021-02-16 07:33:10

On the night of the 15th, when restrictions on business hours such as restaurants were lifted, citizens are visiting the streets of Seomyeon, Busan. Reporter Byeon Eun-sam iamsam@

As Busan’s social distancing was eased to 1.5 steps and restrictions on business operations such as restaurants were lifted, the frozen night of Busan was released in about three months.

I visited Seomyeon 1st Street in Busan around 11 pm on the 15th and the street of youth. As the restrictions on business such as bars and restaurants were lifted from 0:00 on the 15th, the streets of Seomyeon were crowded with citizens. In accordance with the spread of Corona 19, a business restriction was applied from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m..

Park Jin-ho, 32, who runs a 50m2 bar near Sambo Game Land in Seomyeon, ordered 2.5 times more food materials than last week before opening the store on that day. As the business restrictions are lifted, the company plans to open until 5 a.m., and it is predicted that there will be more customers. In fact, the bar of CEO Park visited on this day had no time to step. CEO Park said, “Slowly winter has passed and the weather is getting better, and I feel like spring is coming because the quarantine measures have been mitigated.”

Jin-mo, 32, who runs a chicken restaurant in Seomyeon, decided to increase the business hours from this day to 4 am. CEO Jin said, “I expected more customers to come, and ordered three more boxes of soju and five more boxes of beer,” he said.

On the night of the 15th, when restrictions on business hours such as restaurants were lifted, citizens are visiting the streets of Seomyeon, Busan. Reporter Byeon Eun-sam iamsam@

Not only office workers, but also citizens on the street showed excitement at the lifting of the restaurant business restrictions. Most of the reactions were’finally I can drink properly’. Mr. Kim, 31, a citizen who held a dinner on this day, said, “If it was like normal, I would have been in a hurry while looking at the clock, but from now on, I think I will be able to drink until late, comfortably. Like the restaurant owners, citizens I think it would have been a lot frustrating. I hope that the corona spread will stop without strengthening quarantine regulations now.”

Even though the business owners were relieved of social distancing, they did not release tensions such as recommending customers to wear masks and thoroughly checking visitors.

As social distancing eased, stalls near Seomyeon Lotte Department Store began to appear one after another. Mr. Jo Mo (48), the owner of the stand, said, “I haven’t been able to open the stand for a while, but now I can open the door with ease.” As the sales of the gym as well as the PC room were eased, the owners smiled. Baek Ji-hoon (42), who runs a PC cafe in Seomyeon, said, “The profits have been reduced by more than half, but from today, I have an expectation for sales.” I hope you come.”

On this day, as the business restrictions were lifted and the social distancing was adjusted to step 1.5, Busan City’s authority agency Lee Byung-jin also visited the downtown area of ​​Busan and looked at the site. This agency visited entertainment districts near Gyeongseong University and Pukyong University and checked the status of compliance with quarantine regulations at each facility. This agency said, “We have been able to come so far at the expense of many people’s dedication, citizens’ participation, and the sacrifices of small business owners and self-employed people.” Another crisis may come. Once again, I ask for the cooperation and consideration of all citizens.”

Reporters Kwak Jin-seok and Byeon Eun-sam [email protected]