Court halts vaccine pass system at large supermarkets, department stores in Seoul

Social Affairs

Published: 16 Jan. 2022, 16:28 Updated: 16 Jan. 2022, 16:29

Court halts vaccine pass system at large supermarkets, department stores in Seoul

Customers at a large-sized supermarket in Seoul flash their QR codes before entering on Sunday. The vaccine pass system in place across supermarkets and department stores larger than 3,000 square meters (32,290 square feet) in Seoul has been lifted after a court decided to temporarily halt it, citing basic rights of people. Stores can still require customers to flash their QR codes to keep record of their entries and contact information in case an outbreak takes place. [NEWS1]

The Seoul Administrative Court on Friday temporarily halted the vaccine pass system at large-sized supermarkets and department stores in Seoul, citing an “excessive restriction” on basic livelihoods of people.

A case was filed by 1,023 doctors and other professionals on Dec. 31, demanding the Health Ministry, Korea Disease Control and Prevent Agency (KDCA) and the Seoul Metropolitan Government stop the vaccine pass system at about a dozen types of venues including large-sized supermarkets, restaurants, gyms and cafes.

Passes have been required at gyms, bars and clubs from November, and across restaurants, cafes, libraries, museums and other public facilities from mid-December.

Starting Jan. 10, passes were required at supermarkets and department stores larger than 3,000 square meters (32,290 square feet).

Although the petitioners had asked for the whole vaccine pass system to be scrapped, the court decided instead to temporarily halt the system at large-sized supermarkets and department stores, deeming them “essential stores,” and only in Seoul.

The court said it decided to halt the system only in Seoul, because of the three respondents — the Health Ministry, KDCA and Seoul city government — only the city government was responsible for the actual implementation of the policies.

This reasoning stood in contrast with its previous decision to halt the vaccine pass system across education-related facilities for students aged between 12 and 18. The court on Jan. 4 decided to suspend the system at private educational facilities, such as hagwon (cram schools), reading rooms and study cafes, for students aged between 12 and 18, which was to go into effect from March. At the time, the court did not take issue with the fact that the respondent of the case was the health minister, resulting in their decision to apply the halt nationwide, instead of only across a certain city or province.

The court on Friday also decided to suspend the vaccine pass system in Seoul for those aged between 12 and 18 across venues including restaurants and cafes. The system was to go into effect for this age group starting March 1.

“Very few of the Covid-19 patients aged between 12 and 18 showed severe symptoms so it’s hard to see the rationality behind the measure to try to ensure these people are vaccinated,” said the court.

Some similar cases have had different outcomes.

One of them filed by Hwang Jang-soo, head of a nonparliamentary conservative political party called Revolution 21, to the Seoul Administrative Court resulted in the court on Friday dismissing the case, which called for the suspension of the vaccine pass system across all large-sized supermarkets and department stores.

“We can’t stop the system just for one person [Hwang],” said the court in its statement. “It’s not like the petitioner is completely barred from all supermarkets. He still has access to smaller supermarkets. Additionally, judging by his very active online presence, the court deemed that the petitioner has other means to shop for products such as online shopping malls.”

The court’s decision means Seoul is the only city without the vaccine pass system at large-sized supermarkets and department stores.

The Health Ministry maintains the vaccine pass system is the best bet for Korea to curb the spread of the Covid-19 cases. The country’s been in its fourth and largest wave of the pandemic since mid-July.

“The vaccine pass system was implemented to curb the spread of the virus among the unvaccinated,” said the Health Ministry’s senior official Son Young-are, who has been giving regular press briefings on the Covid-19 situation, in a radio interview on Friday.

“The court decision shows that it admits the continuation of the vaccine pass system will serve public interest, but that they thought the expansion of the system to large-sized supermarkets and department stores in Seoul to be excessive.”

Son added that a possible relaxation of the vaccine pass system across some venues “deemed less at risk of spreading the virus” is being considered by the health authorities.

The Health Ministry is expected to announce its response to the court's decision on Monday.

The vaccine pass system remains in place for large supermarkets and department stores outside of Seoul, for adults aged 19 or over.

Customers in violation of the policy can be subject to a 100,000 won ($84) penalty, while the owner of a facility or store can be fined 1.5 million won if caught for the first time, and 3 million won if caught again.

They will also be subjected to a 10-day business ban if caught violating the policy for the first time, which will increase to 20 days if caught a second time and three months for a third. They will be shut down completely if they violate the policy a fourth time.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]