Shilla Hotel bans hanbok, offers apology

The Shilla Seoul on Wednesday apologized for banning a hanbok-clad customer from entering its restaurant, the Park View, which provoked fierce criticism in the nation’s cyber space.

The controversy sparked when well-known hanbok designer Lee Hye-sun of Damyeon was reportedly banned from entering the Park View on Tuesday evening by a restaurant staff, who is reported to have said the Korean traditional costume was “dangerous” clothing and can “get in the way” of other people, according to local news reports and Twitter feeds.

The Shilla Seoul is run by CEO Lee Bu-jin, the eldest daughter of Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee. In January, Hong Ra-hee, wife of Lee Kun-hee, celebrated the 70th birthday of Lee wearing hanbok at the Dynasty Hall of the hotel.

In response to the strong criticism, the hotel released a statement apologizing but did not offer a clear stance on whether it will allow hanbok-clad guests from now on.

“The Shilla Seoul has been informing every guest since last year that hanbok wearers can get their clothes stepped on by others or make others fall over hanbok, since some complaints by other guests were reported to the restaurant,” said the hotel in a statement.

“We apologize for creating inconvenience to the customer and we will correct the measure shortly to better provide quality service.”

The statement did not elaborate whether the hotel originally banned hanbok at the restaurant or not, but a spokesperson for the hotel said there was no such rule banning hanbok in the first place.

“We apologize that our staff were not properly trained to explain in detail why the restaurant asks hanbok-wearing customers to ‘be careful at the buffet dining hall,’” the spokesperson said.

As to why Internet users say Lee was “banned” from entering, the spokesperson did not offer a clear answer.

Designer Lee, famous for her hanbok costumes featured in famous Korean films including ”Ssanghwajeom“ (a frozen flower), could not be reached.

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)