[Anchor]

The government announced that last month's consumer price inflation rate stayed below 3 percent for the second consecutive month. While the growth rate slowed slightly compared to the previous month, what ordinary citizens feel on the ground is far removed from the statistics.

Reporter An Huijae has more.

[Reporter]

[March 29, 2024, "8 News": "The kimchi stew comes with seven side dishes. Yet, the price has remained at 6,000 won for two years."]

We revisited a restaurant designated by the government as a "good restaurant" for being cleaner and cheaper than surrounding places, two and a half years later.

Despite desperate efforts to keep prices from rising, the restaurant had ultimately raised prices for most menu items by 1,000 won each, an increase of nearly 20 percent.

[Han Eun-suk / Owner of a "Good Price Establishment" in Singil-dong, Seoul: "I wish I didn't have to raise them, but with inflation rising, I had no choice. Everything, from ingredients to paper cups and all, (has gone up.) Our restaurant was known as the cheap place, but even now..."]

We revisited another good restaurant 3 years and 8 months later.

In the past, a meal could be had for under 8,000 won, but because prices had to be raised by 2,000 to 3,000 won across the board, the restaurant's menu board has become tattered with corrections.

The owners lament that gas, electricity, rent, and labor costs have all gone up, leaving them with no choice but to raise prices by around 30 percent.

[Cho Myung-soon / Owner of a "Good Price Establishment" in Dangsan-dong, Seoul: "(Thinking of my regulars,) I held out as long as I could, and now I only hire workers for short, three-hour part-time shifts. I need to catch a break myself. So, I sell a little less while raising the prices slightly."]v

According to a Korea Consumer Agency survey, prices for popular everyday menu items favored by ordinary citizens—such as gimbap, jajangmyeon (black bean noodles), knifecut noodles, and naengmyeon (cold noodles)—have surged by more than 30 percent over five years.

This is why ordinary people fail to feel the impact, even though consumer price inflation rose 2.8 percent last month, staying below the 3 percent mark for two months in a row.

[Kim Sung-sook / Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul: "(When I go grocery shopping,) 15,000 won or 20,000 won used to be enough in the past, but now a 50,000-won bill vanishes in an instant. Inflation continues to soar..."]

As high inflation persists unabated for several years, self-employed business owners and ordinary citizens alike are being crushed under its cumulative weight.

(Video by Kim Jin-won | Design by Kim Ye-ji | VJ: Lee Ji-hwan)