Seoul: In the affluent Seoul neighbourhood of Daechi, Hyun Sung-joo has a dilemma. His coffee shop is sometimes visited by Cagongjok, a term for mostly young South Koreans who love to study or work at cafes, but there’s a limit. He says one customer recently set up a workspace in his cafe that included two laptops and a six-port power strip to charge all their devices - for an entire day, as per BBC. “I ended up blocking off the power outlets,” he said.

“With Daechi’s high rents, it’s difficult to run a cafe if someone occupies a seat all day.” The cultural phenomenon of Cagongjok is rampant in South Korea, especially in areas with large numbers of students and office workers. They dominate cafes often on a much greater scale than western countries like the UK, where those studying are often surrounded by others there to socialise.

And Starbucks Korea warned this month that a minority of people are going further than just laptops, such as bringing in desktop monitors, printers, partitioning off desks or leaving tables unattended for long periods.

The chain has now launched nationwide guidelines aimed at curbing “a small number of extreme cases” where elabora­te setups or prolonged empty seats disrupt other customers. Starbucks said staff would not ask customers to leave, but rather provide “guidance” when needed. It cited previous cases of theft when customers left belongings unattended.