Yeosu Island Expo food truck vendor pleads for end to malicious comments amid slow business

Undercooked fried chicken sold at a food truck at the Yeosu Island Expo. [Yeosu MBC screen capture]
Undercooked fried chicken sold at a food truck at the Yeosu Island Expo. [Yeosu MBC screen capture]

A visitor who claimed to have fallen ill after eating fried chicken at the 2026 Yeosu World Island Expo during the chuseok holiday demanded 500,000 won ($368) in settlement money for medical expenses, it has emerged.

The visitor bought the fried chicken at a food truck inside the expo grounds, returned home to a residence in South Gyeongsang Province not far from Yeosu, and raised the complaint three days later. When the settlement demand was rejected, the visitor apparently tipped off a media outlet.

According to the expo organizing committee, a visitor in her 40s identified only as A and her two elementary school-age children bought fried chicken priced at 12,000 won at a food truck at around 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. Three days later, on Tuesday afternoon, she called the food truck owner to complain of stomach pain and diarrhea.

The food truck owner apologized for selling undercooked chicken and asked after the children's health, but was told they had not been to a hospital.

A food truck supervisor said the mother called on Tuesday afternoon requesting a 500,000 won settlement. "Business has been bad and we're struggling, so I told her the amount was too large and that I couldn't pay it, but offered to handle it through our food liability insurance instead — then I hung up," the supervisor said. "The next day, a reporter showed up."

"As a parent myself, I asked out of concern whether the kids were OK, and she said they were fine — I even have a recording of that call," the supervisor added. "Then the next day it was all over the news saying the children had diarrhea and stomach pain from the chicken. If a child had really gotten sick from the food, they would have rushed to a hospital, but she told me they hadn't gone — and then suddenly there were media reports about it."

The product was a semi-prepared frozen food purchased from a food ingredient store, requiring six minutes of frying from frozen or four minutes after thawing. The vendor is believed to have sold the chicken undercooked.

The expo's food truck zone started with 13 trucks but has dwindled to five amid poor turnout. The fried chicken stall has since been ordered to suspend operations and has vacated the premises.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety plans to collect samples of the food in question and test them for foodborne pathogens.

A food truck operator urged the public to hold back on unverified reports and malicious comments. "Yeosu's night sea is beautiful, the views are great, and there's plenty to eat — but the negative coverage has been keeping visitors away, and it's taking a toll on the organizing committee and the vendors alike," the operator said.

An expo organizing committee official said the body would conduct emergency hygiene inspections of all food vendors on the grounds and step up operator education to prevent a recurrence. "We will fix what went wrong, but there has been a lot of reporting that distorts the facts," the official said.

The 2026 Yeosu World Island Expo, held across the Jinmo district in Dolsan-eup and the World Expo venue, is scheduled to close Nov. 4.


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