In a country that prides itself on its cleanliness, littering is an unforgivable sin.
You can shout at random strangers, you can even poop on the streets, but you should never, ever litter.
Police: Uh, actually you shouldn’t do any of those things. How are you not in jail?
And the law will not turn a blind eye to any litterbug, even if they happen to be a famous YouTuber (ahem).
So when you get caught littering, the logical thing to do is to complete your corrective work, learn from your mistakes, and never litter again.
Or, if you’re this man, you could litter seven more times in the next decade.
49YO Chronic Litterbug Convicted for Throwing Cigarette Butt on Ground; His 8th Conviction in Over 10 Years
On 7 May, a 49-year-old man was fined and sentenced to a Corrective Work Order (CWO) for throwing a cigarette butt on the ground.
Normally, this wouldn’t make front page news, but the authorities discovered that this was Peh Choe Kong’s eighth conviction in over ten years for littering.
Well, he did kind of make front page news; NEA dedicated a whole Facebook post to him.
On 9 July last year, enforcement officers from the National Environment Agency (NEA) spotted Peh throwing a cigarette butt on the ground outside Tampines 1.
Peh later claimed that he had thrown the cigarette butt into a makeshift container placed on the ground and not directly on the ground, but the court didn’t buy his story and convicted him.
His seven previous convictions for littering offences from 2008 to 2018 were taken into consideration by the court when determining the appropriate sentence.
In the end, Peh was fined $3,600 and sentenced to perform 12 hours of corrective work.
If he fails to pay the court fine, he would have to serve 10 days behind bars.
Yes, you can go to prison for littering.
19,000 Tickets Issued Last Year for Littering
According to NEA, around 19,000 tickets were handed out last year for littering offences.
And contrary to what many believe, you can receive a hefty fine for the first offence.
Under the Environmental Public Health Act, those convicted of a littering offence can be fined up to $2,000 for a first offence.
A second offence carries a fine of $4,000, while offenders can be fined $10,000 for the third and subsequent convictions.
Offenders may also have to perform corrective work, which requires offenders to clean public areas. A CWO of up to 12 hours can be imposed.
Introduced in 1992, the authorities said in 2019 that the CWO will help to deter littering because the penalty “carries an element of shame”.
Feature Image: dindumphoto / Shutterstock.com
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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