Baemin facing allegations of discrimination against foreigners in S. Korea

Baemin that is also locally known as Baedal Minjok is one of South Korea’s biggest food delivery app. It is now facing heavy criticisms after being accused of discriminating against foreigners in South Korea.

The discrimination complaint

As per The Korea Times, some of the foreign residents broke their silence and alleged that the company is being unfair with them. One of their complaints is that only Koreans were allowed to redeem gifts from their app.

One foreigner said that he observed Baemin’s odd discrimination practice against non-Koreans after learning that foreigners are not able to get their free gifts even if they have the coupons for it. However, Koreans who got the same gift coupons and certificates for availing company’s services were able to redeem them without issues.

He added that using other food delivery app like Yogiyo or even the mobile messenger Kakao Talk also give them free gift coupons and they don’t have any problems in redeeming the gifts. This resident has been living in South Korea since 2004 and this is the first time had this discrimination experience and it happened with Baemin.

He went on to narrate that during a company dinner via video conference, his Korean co-workers fully redeemed their gift given by their company through the Baemin app. However, he was the only one who couldn't.

The Baemin gift certificate was distributed by his team leader for the virtual team dinner so that everyone could order their food online and paid for by their boss. But when it was time to use the coupon, he only received a message from the app that said only Koreans are allowed to get the gift through the service.

"This does not make any sense to me," the foreigner shared. "I am just upset for the foreign community who live in Korea. If they are placed in a similar situation, they would not be able to use this coupon and feel left out from society even more.”

He went on to say, “Baemin is practicing some strange discrimination and is not providing reasons as to why they don't even want to support foreigners to redeem gifts on their app even in the Korean language."

Woowa Brother’s response

Baemin is being operated by Woowa Brothers and it said that its gift service is still in its early stage so there could still be some flaws. It assured that it will improve the service for foreigners.

Meanwhile, Baemin’s operator, Woowa Brothers, is owned by Kim Bong Jin. Amid this complaint, he has previously pledged to empower its delivery riders by giving them incentives.

Korea Joongang Daily reported that the CEO will be selling part of his stocks and use the money to compensate around 2,100 workers through bonuses and other benefits.