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Travelers come under fire for 'drinking party' in highway rest stop parking lot

Published: 23 Sep. 2025, 14:09 Updated: 23 Sep. 2025, 18:44

A group of tourists holds a drinking party in the parking area for large buses at Jinyeong Rest Area. [SCREEN CAPTURE}

A group of tourists was caught drinking alcohol at a highway rest stop, setting up tables and hosting what appeared to be a full-blown gathering in the middle of a parking area reserved for large buses.

On Monday, a post titled “Tourists take over Jinyeong Rest Stop parking lot for drinking party” was uploaded to an online community, along with photos of the scene.

The images showed two large tour buses parked in a designated bus-only section at the Jinyeong Rest Stop on the Namhae Expressway in the direction of Suncheon, South Jeolla. Between the buses, dozens of people had set up multiple folding tables and were seen eating and drinking.

According to the post, bottles of soju were among the items placed on the tables.

“This photo was taken last Sunday morning at the Jinyeong Rest Stop,” the post read. “The tourists basically took over the parking lot.”

“It wasn’t just a quick meal — if you look closely, you can see soju bottles,” the post continued. “It looked like more than just one or two buses were involved, which makes me think this has been going on for a while.

“It was such a bizarre sight that I questioned whether I was still in Korea. With the autumn foliage season coming up, I’m worried about how much worse it might get.”

Most online commenters criticized the behavior. “The rest stop isn’t a bar,” one wrote. “This isn’t just a simple meal — they’re throwing a drinking party. That’s unacceptable.” Another comment read, “Taking over the parking spots like that is just shameless.”

Others were more sympathetic, suggesting that such gatherings might be acceptable if held in a quiet or empty area. “As long as it’s not illegal and they didn’t linger for too long, I don’t see a major problem,” one user wrote.

Currently, there are no laws directly prohibiting eating or drinking alcohol in rest stop parking lots. As such, rest stop operators typically rely on internal guidelines and issue verbal warnings in lieu of formal penalties.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JANG GU-SEUL [[email protected]]