Incheon Airport Nursing Room Scandal: Why Tourists Are Using Baby Rooms to Cook Ramen

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A video showing Chinese tourists filling cup noodles with hot water and eating them inside a nursing room at Incheon Airport surfaced on social media and has sparked controversy.

On the 25th, multiple posts and videos appeared on Chinese social platforms such as Xiaohongshu alleging that people had filled and eaten cup noodles in an Incheon Airport nursing room.

One user wrote that airport convenience stores do not provide hot water, but that nursing rooms at Incheon Airport offer free hot water. \”If you want to eat ramen, be sure to stop by the nursing room,\” the post advised. Some posts even provided detailed directions to nearby convenience stores and nursing rooms.

Another user said staff caught them getting hot water for cup noodles in the nursing room and escorted them out. The person said they had only grabbed water in a hurry and planned to eat outside. \”I assumed eating inside was prohibited, but I didn’t expect them to refuse hot water,\” the user added.

As nursing rooms became known among Chinese tourists as convenient rest areas, mothers who rely on them say their access has been compromised. One mother wrote that when she entered an Incheon Airport nursing room to prepare formula, she found a Chinese woman filling a cup of noodles with hot water.

Other parents reported similar experiences: \”I saw a foreigner sleeping in the nursing room,\” one wrote. \”When I went to change my baby’s diaper I was embarrassed. While I was feeding my baby for about 20 minutes, four or five people came in to get hot water for cup noodles. Later I noticed noodle broth splattered all over the water dispenser.\”

Netizens reacted, suggesting measures such as restricting access—\”At Busan Station, the nursing room is only opened for people with babies; I wish Incheon Airport would do the same\”—or imposing fines: \”Can’t they penalize people for this?\”