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TAEBAEK, Gangwon Province — The Taebaek Mountain Snow Festival, a premier winter celebration in South Korea, has come under fire immediately following its opening due to a shocking hygiene scandal at a food stall. The city of Taebaek has moved swiftly to shut down the vendor, but public outrage continues to simmer online.
The Incident: Plastic Bottles in the Broth
The controversy erupted on January 31, the opening day of the festival's 33rd year. A visitor posted a video on Instagram that quickly went viral, capturing a vendor placing frozen plastic bottles of makgeolli (traditional rice wine) directly into a large vat of boiling fishcake (eomuk) soup.
The video showed the frozen plastic bottles submerged alongside fishcake skewers intended for sale. The witness reported that when a customer complained their rice wine was frozen due to the sub-zero temperatures, the owner simply dunked the entire plastic bottle into the communal soup to thaw it.
"I witnessed two bottles being submerged in just five minutes," the visitor wrote. "I was drinking that very soup until a moment ago. Seeing plastic bottles heated in the broth made it impossible to keep eating. When I protested, the owner dismissively said it was 'only for a moment,' as if that made it okay."
Chemical Concerns and Public Backlash
The incident has sparked a heated debate regarding food safety. Experts warn that heating PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles in boiling water can lead to the leaching of endocrine disruptors and harmful chemicals into the food.
Netizens flooded social media with criticism, calling the act "a total disregard for public health" and "a disgrace to a national festival." The backlash is particularly sharp as Taebaek seeks to revitalize local tourism through the event, which is hosted by the Taebaek City Cultural Foundation and supported by Gangwon State.
Emergency Response by Taebaek City
In an effort to contain the damage, the Taebaek municipal government issued an official apology via Instagram on February 1.
"We sincerely apologize for causing concern to our visitors," the statement read. "Regarding the hygiene issue at the fishcake and makgeolli stall, we conducted an emergency field inspection this morning and immediately ordered the cessation of business and the removal of the facility."
The city added that it plans to take further administrative action in accordance with relevant laws and will significantly strengthen hygiene inspections across all festival venues to prevent a recurrence.
Current Status and Next Steps
A Taebaek City official confirmed in a phone call with The Hankyoreh on February 2 that the vendor agreed to the removal immediately after being confronted.
"If they had resisted, we would have proceeded with formal criminal charges," the official stated. "Since they acknowledged the fault and cleared the stall, we are still deliberating on the exact scope of further administrative penalties."
The Taebaek Mountain Snow Festival is scheduled to run through mid-February. However, the "Makgeolli Incident" serves as a stark reminder of the challenges local governments face in monitoring third-party vendors at high-traffic events.
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