"Everything Has Gone Up"... Long Queues Form for Half-Price Hanwoo

[Anchor]

Although Chuseok is supposed to be an abundant holiday, many people say it is difficult to shop with peace of mind due to soaring prices. To stabilize prices for Chuseok, the government has decided to expand the supply of seasonal items to record highs and monitor the prices of major goods on a daily basis.

Reporter Jeong Seong-jin has the details.

[Reporter]

A long line forms in front of the meat section.

Because Hanwoo prices are around 10 percent higher than last Chuseok, people rushed to take advantage of a half-price sale event.

Major seafood items such as cutlassfish and Alaska pollock have also jumped by nearly 10 percent compared to last year.

A consumer who repeatedly picked up and put down a fish eventually gave up on the purchase and turned their attention to government-supported discounted seafood items that started at large supermarkets today (Sep. 10).

[Supermarket Shopper: Prices are skyrocketing to the heavens. I came early when it was quiet to look around and buy things like that...]

Vegetable prices, such as spinach and zucchini which surged significantly due to the heatwave, are still not dropping.

[Supermarket Shopper: I stopped by Costco, stopped by the apartment market, and came here last. I shop while comparing prices.]

The cost of preparing the Chuseok ancestral ritual table this year is calculated to exceed 300,000 won even when using traditional markets.

[Lee Ji-yeon and Kim Kyung-ja / Yangcheon-gu, Seoul: It is too expensive. (Greens have gone up a lot.) We really cannot buy them. So we just buy a little bit at a time.]

[Kim Jong-sung / Traditional Market Vendor: I definitely feel that the number of customers has decreased by about 20 to 30 percent compared to last year.]

With the Chuseok holiday two weeks away, the government is rolling out even stronger price stabilization measures.

It has expanded participating discount entities, including the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation and the food industry, and extended the period through the end of this month.

At traditional markets, starting on the 16th, which is one week before Chuseok, about 30 percent of purchase amounts will be refunded in Onnuri gift certificates.

Following the decision to remove the limit on discount support for agricultural and livestock products by additionally injecting 90 billion won to the existing 100 billion won, the government also announced plans today to intensively crack down on rip-off pricing.

[Han Sung-sook / Prime Minister: Please flawlessly execute the livelihood stabilization measures for Chuseok and respond sternly to price-disturbing activities.]

The government also plans to survey 36 major items every day until Chuseok to check price trends in real time.

(Photo: Lee Moo-jin | Video Editing: Cho Moo-hwan | Design: Lee Jae-jun | VJ: Lee Ji-hwan)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.