What has been dubbed “burger phobia” is wreaking havoc on South Korea’s fast food chains following the lawsuit in which a mother sued McDonald’s Korea over her daughter’s serious illness.

The mother claimed that her four-year-old daughter contracted hemolytic uremic syndrome after she ate a burger at the US hamburger chain. She argued that an undercooked patty was the cause of the illness, which McDonald’s Korea has denied. 


Despite the absence of confirmation about the causal link between the girl’s symptoms and the hamburger patty, a growing number of Koreans are staying away from the fast food chains.

Yonhap News Agency reported that the number of customers at a McDonald’s store near City Hall in Seoul nearly halved on Sunday, citing one of the staff members at the restaurant.

“In principle, we do not announce revenue figures, so we cannot talk about how much revenue decreased over the weekend,” Yonhap News Agency quoted an official from McDonald’s Korea as saying. “It’s difficult to check the overall change in revenue by looking at certain stores.”

By Im Eun-byel (silverstar@heraldcorp.com)