Shoppers at Shinsegae Department Store’s Gangnam branch in Seoul were stranded in the underground parking garage for hours on Sunday, as heavy rain and traffic congestion delayed vehicles from exiting.
People shared complaints about the situation on social media on Monday.
“I was trapped in the underground parking garage at Shinsegae Gangnam. I turned off my engine because we hadn’t moved a bit in two hours,” one person wrote on Threads. “People were getting out of their cars, and it was chaos.”
Another shopper said they had waited in the garage since about 6:40 p.m., started moving slowly around 9:30 p.m., and finally got out at about 10 p.m.
The customer said the department store told drivers they could leave their cars and pick them up the next day without paying additional parking fees.
A Shinsegae Department Store official said the Seocho-gu location began restricting vehicle exits around 5 p.m. because heavy traffic on nearby roads and traffic controls on Jamsu Bridge made it difficult to leave.
“As it was the store’s regular closing day, customers who had left their cars in the parking lot yesterday were able to retrieve their cars without any problems today. No parking fees were charged,” the official told The Korea Herald on Monday.
The official clarified that no accident had occurred near the department store, contrary to claims circulating on social media.
tammy@heraldcorp.com