On September 18, First Vice Minister Lee Hyoung Il visited Gongneung Dokkaebi Market to review grocery prices and spending trends ahead of the Chuseok holiday and hear firsthand about the challenges facing market vendors.
To help stabilize grocery prices ahead of Chuseok, the government is providing a record KRW 193 billion in discounts from September 3 to 30 – more than double last year’s KRW 90 billion – and expanding the supply of key holiday food items to 185,000 tons, in accordance with the Measures to Stabilize Livelihoods During the Chuseok Holiday, announced on September 1, and supplementary measures announced on September 9. As of September 16, 121,000 tons of the planned 163,000 tons of agricultural and livestock products and 6,000 tons of the planned 22,000 tons of fisheries products had been supplied. The government will continue to implement the announced measures as planned, while offering additional discounts on Korean beef, pork, chicken and other products by making full use of available resources, including self-help funds. It also plans to launch large-scale discount events through the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation and other channels.
In addition, from September 16 to 20, the government is holding on-site Onnuri Gift Certificate rebate events at participating traditional markets nationwide, with 300 markets each for agricultural and livestock products and fisheries products. Shoppers purchasing domestically produced agricultural and livestock products and fisheries products can receive up to KRW 20,000 per person for each of the two categories as Onnuri Gift Certificates, helping ease grocery costs and encourage spending at traditional markets.
Vice Minister Lee visited an on-site rebate booth at Gongneung Dokkaebi Market to review its operations. The government has improved the process to make it more convenient for consumers and reduce waiting times. It has combined rebate booths for agricultural and livestock products with those for fisheries products and increased the availability of mobile queueing systems, ticketing kiosks, and on-site staff. Vice Minister Lee reviewed whether these improvements were working smoothly on the ground and looked into any inconvenience experienced by consumers. He called for seamless implementation of the rebate program so that it can help ease grocery costs while boosting sales at traditional markets and small businesses.
The government also plans to expand support to revitalize traditional markets and local economies. The 2027 budget proposal includes KRW 42.7 billion for a traditional market development program linking markets with regional tourism and cultural assets, up 35.6 percent from KRW 31.5 billion in 2026. It also allocates KRW 56.2 billion to a support program for traditional market safety management aimed at expanding safety facilities to better prepare for extreme heat and other risks, up 325.8 percent from KRW 13.2 billion in 2026. Furthermore, the government plans to invest KRW 80 billion in a lifestyle and cultural innovation support program, up 100 percent from KRW 40 billion in 2026, to strengthen the underlying competitiveness of small businesses through support for product innovation, branding and market development.
Vice Minister Lee said, “Traditional markets are among the places where people’s daily lives and local economies most directly intersect. We will continue to closely monitor consumer prices and the challenges facing traditional markets and small businesses, while carefully tracking implementation to ensure that the policy measures to stabilize people’s livelihoods are carried out smoothly on the ground.”
He added, “Alongside mitigating the immediate burdens on people’s livelihoods, it is equally important to strengthen the ability of small businesses to thrive on their own. We will faithfully reflect voices from the ground in our policies and swiftly implement measures that deliver tangible benefits to the public, so that the benefits of the economic recovery can reach small businesses and communities across the country.”
Please refer to the attached files.
