Government Lifts Discount Limit on Chuseok Agricultural and Livestock Products... 22,000 Tons of Seafood to Be Supplied

Additional 90 Billion Won Allocated in Supplementary Budget

Crackdown on Price Gouging and Abuse of Quota Tariffs

In preparation for the Chuseok holiday, the government is strengthening its measures to stabilize the prices of essential holiday goods by removing the discount limits on agricultural, livestock, and fisheries products and increasing the supply of seafood to 22,000 tons. The government will also step up crackdowns on acts that undermine people's livelihoods, such as price gouging during the holiday peak season and the abuse of tariff quotas.

On September 9, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, led by Vice Minister Kang Gi Ryong, held a joint meeting on price management and a task force for eradicating Chuseok price gouging, where these supplementary measures for the Chuseok Livelihood Stability Plan were announced. The government will inject an additional 90 billion won from available budgets into the previously allocated 103 billion won for agricultural and livestock product discount support. As a result, discount events for agricultural and livestock products will be extended by one week, from the original end date of September 23 to September 30, and the per-person weekly discount limit of 20,000 won will be abolished, allowing unlimited discounts.

Citizens are shopping at Cheongnyangni General Market in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, one week before Chuseok, the biggest national holiday. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Expanding Discounts and Supply of Holiday Essentials to Ease Shopping Burden

Discount events will be held at large and small retail stores, online malls, and traditional markets. About 12,000 retail outlets for agricultural and livestock products and around 2,400 outlets for seafood products are participating. In traditional markets, shoppers can receive a 30% rebate on purchases of agricultural, livestock, and seafood products in the form of Onnuri gift certificates from September 16 to 20, with a maximum rebate of 20,000 won each for agricultural/livestock and seafood products. Additional discounts will be available through ZeroPay mobile gift certificates. A total of 20 billion won in agricultural/livestock mobile vouchers and 10 billion won in seafood mobile vouchers will be sold at a 20% discount.

The supply of seafood will also be expanded. An additional 2,000 tons, including 1,300 tons of pollock, 300 tons of squid, 300 tons of yellow corvina, and 100 tons of dried anchovies, will be added to the government's reserves of 20,000 tons of popular seafood species, bringing the total to 22,000 tons. This supply volume is three times higher than usual. The discount applied to government-reserved seafood will also increase, with prices now up to 50% below the regular market price, compared to the previous maximum of 40%.

For three weeks leading up to Chuseok, the government will focus on expanding the supply of 19 key holiday products. These supplies include 7,000 tons of napa cabbage, 6,000 tons of radishes, 17,000 tons of apples, 14,600 tons of pears, 22,530 tons of beef, 67,000 tons of pork, and 16,500 tons of chicken. For chestnuts, supply will increase to over nine times the usual level at 2,300 tons, and for jujubes, 180 tons will be supplied, substantially increasing forest product availability. The number of processed food companies participating will increase to 20, and up to 4,765 items will be offered at discounts of up to 64% throughout the month. Products such as ramen, noodles, tofu, bread, fermented sauces, snacks, ice cream, and instant foods will be discounted up to 50%, while drinks will be discounted up to 64%.

Lee Hyungil, Deputy Prime Minister and candidate for Minister of Finance and Economy, visited Kkachisan Market in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, on the 7th as part of the Chuseok Livelihood Stabilization Measures to check prices and listen to the difficulties of small business owners. Photo by Yonhap News.

Focused Crackdown on Price Gouging and Livelihood Infringements

The government will also step up efforts to prevent price gouging during the Chuseok peak season. From September 14 to 22, multiple agencies—including the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Fair Trade Commission, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, National Tax Service, and the National Police Agency—will conduct joint on-site inspections targeting unfair prices at markets, restaurants, accommodations, and similar establishments.

Voluntary self-correction activities in the industry, such as compliance with price labeling and restraint from excessive price increases, will be further strengthened. In Busan's Haeundae Market, a fair pricing and customer service campaign will be held on September 22, involving merchants and the tourism industry. Revised sanction standards, recently strengthened, will be prominently explained on-site: for accommodations, the penalty for a first violation has been raised to a five-day business suspension from the previous warning or improvement order; for restaurants, a five-day business suspension from the previous corrective order; for taxis, a 30-day license suspension instead of a warning.

If accommodation reservations are unilaterally canceled without a valid reason, the government plans to revise the Consumer Dispute Resolution Standards within this year so that customers are entitled to compensation of 200% of the canceled reservation fee. For businesses in traditional markets that charge excessive prices or sell less than the standard quantity during Onnuri gift certificate rebate events, penalties such as warnings, orders for correction, or event suspension will be applied if there is a discrepancy between displayed and actual sales prices or if underweight sales are detected.

Crackdowns on infringements against people's livelihoods will also be intensified. The government will focus on monitoring unfair practices in essential goods and services such as housing, daily necessities, education, and energy, which the public is especially sensitive to. There will be strict investigations into abuses of price stabilization systems, such as unjustly securing recommended quantities for tariff quotas, tax evasion, and supply delays. In a recent special customs investigation into the abuse of tariff quotas, the government found 546.8 billion won in illegal and unfair practices by 10 companies, including price manipulation and exceeding quota recommendations or violating conditions. It will collect 58.6 billion won in evaded taxes and has already imposed 8.5 billion won in fines.

Special and intensive crackdowns will also target lifestyle crimes such as insurance fraud, illegal private loans, and ticket scalping during the Chuseok season. Unregistered private lending, usurious interest rates, unlawful debt collection, and illegal loan schemes, including new and evolving methods, will all be included in the crackdown. The government said, "To ensure the effectiveness of the Chuseok Livelihood Stability Measures announced on the 1st, we will expand the supply of essential goods and discount support, and strengthen our response to price gouging and acts that harm citizens' livelihoods that could destabilize prices during the holiday."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.