Leessang brawls with bad tenant
Hip-hop duo Leessang has been in an ongoing brawl with the owner of a gopchang (broiled cow intestine) restaurant in Sinsa-dong, southern Seoul, but things turned ugly Thursday morning when Leesang tried to forcibly evict the tenant.
Leessang brought some 100 people and a forklift to move out the tenant, surnamed Seo, starting at 6 a.m.
But the eviction ground to a halt around 10 a.m., when Seo showed up with 70 people from a tenants-rights group.
The beef has its origins in June 2012, when the duo told Seo they wouldn’t be renewing his lease.
When he refused to move out, the duo filed charges against him. But that led to bad press for the hip-hop group, so Leessang settled with Seo, paying him 180 million won ($161,000).
Leessang eventually decided to sign a new rental contract with Seo September 2013, allowing him to run his restaurant in the parking lots located in the building’s basement and first floor for the next two years.
But in October, Seo set up a tent in the first-floor parking lot. This drew the ire of the Gangnam District Office, who said the tent was illegal and demanded he take it down.
Leessang pounced on the opportunity to cancel their contract with Seo, saying he had installed the tent without their approval and violated his lease.
Instead of moving out, however, Seo simply replaced the tent with one that could be folded up at the end of the day. He then countersued the duo for interfering with his business.
The court, however, took Leessang’s side and ordered Seo to move out. They sent him demand letters twice, most recently on May 30.
By Jin Min-ji
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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