Similar conflicts surrounding street vendor license occur in other parts of the globe as well. South Korea is another tourist site where bustling street markets attract pedestrians.
According to Kim Jae-heun, a reporter from Korea Times, as of October 2018, nearly 7,300 people were running street stalls in Seoul, among which only 1,000 had city permission and over 6,000 vendors sold food and general merchandise in the street illegally.
Yeongdeungpo Street Vendor (Photo by Jae Jae) 
Yeongdeungpo Street Vendors (Photo by Lulu)
Yeongdeungpo, being a critical terrain for Seoul’s politics and economy, is one of the districts with the biggest floating population in South Korea. Accordingly, centering around Yeongdeungpo station, street vendors were present on the streets for around 50 years to meet the needs of exhausted citizens, ranging from infants to office workers.
It was indeed problematic, however, due to issues of hygiene and unauthorized installation of the vendors. Braille blocks on the streets were interrupted by the stall’s fabric tents, and traffic lights for crosswalks were not easily seen, posing threat to traffic safety.
Against the government’s attempt to get rid of illegal vendors, stall keepers strongly opposed by claiming their” right to make a living.”
The Seoul Metropolitan government drew up guidelines to crack down street vendors, offering licenses to street businesses in charge of taxation and participating in annual education course as a licensing requirement.
Chae Hyun-il, chief of Yeongdeungpo-gu office, stated that “for the last 50 years, a great deal of civil complaints was regarding the overcrowded streets due to illegal street vendors.” He added “we managed to share conversations with stall keepers and established a ‘win-win’ management committee to build trust in our policies.”
Replacing roadside trees to replace street vendors (Photo by Yeongdeungpo Times)
Replaced Authorized Street Vendors (Photo by Hankyung Times)
On 25 March, thanks to the government’s and citizens’ efforts, street vendor removal was done in less than two hours, without significant conflict. After three months of paving block maintenance, installation of LED signs, and replacement of roadside trees, in July 2019, the street was successfully transformed into a pleasant promenade with clean, authorized vendors.
Dai Pai Dong, Hong Kong Culture 