hankyoreh

Sept. 28. (by Kim Tae-hyeong

By Jung Hwan-bong, staff reporter

Two people assembled a raft of potato chip bags and other snack bags and crossed the Han River. The performance was held to protest confectionary companies, which are under fire for stuffing their snack bags with nitrogen filling.

Around 3 pm on Sept. 28, Yoo Seong-ho, 26, Park Hyun-soo, 26, and Jang Seong-taek, 25, made a boat using 160 or so snack bags (worth about 180,000 won, or US$171.61) in front of the water taxi boarding platform at the Han River Park in the Songpa District of Seoul. Wrapping tape around the bags, the three completed their snack bag boat in about an hour. The boat was 2 meters long and 80 cm wide. To be on the safe side, they wrapped the boat one more time in plastic.

After grabbing oars and boarding the boat, Yoo and Jang launched from the bank of the Han River around 4:30 pm and managed to reach the other side, a distance of about 1.5 km, in only 30 minutes. Along the way, there were some nerve-wracking moments when the boat rocked, but it did not capsize or sink.

“I got the idea for this performance when I saw a picture of someone floating in a swimming pool by holding on to a snack bag. I hope that the confectionary companies will spend more time thinking about the issue of excessive packing from the perspective of the consumers,” Yu said.

300 citizens gathered on the other side of the river to welcome them and show their support. Some of those supporters had contributed snack bags for the raft.

The three participants said that after washing the snack bags, they would donate them to a childcare facility.

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