570,000 People Liked It... Long-Term Discussions on 'Mandatory Closure of Large Supermarkets'

Excluded from target due to suspected 'Abusing'
Industry says "Significance in changed public opinion"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] The plan to abolish mandatory closures of large supermarkets, which received 570,000 "likes" in the 'National Proposal TOP10' vote, is likely to be postponed as a mid- to long-term task. This is because the Presidential Office invalidated the top three proposals, including this plan, citing suspected abuse (duplicate submissions) that cast doubt on their distinctiveness.

Earlier, the Presidential Office conducted an online vote for ten 'National Proposal' items selected by a public-private joint review committee from over 13,000 submissions received both online and offline. The vote took place over ten days from the 22nd of last month until the day before yesterday. As a result, the proposal to abolish mandatory closures of large supermarkets ranked first with 577,415 votes.

The distribution industry, which had high hopes for the abolition of mandatory closures, could not hide its bitterness but seemed to find significance in the fact that the proposal received widespread support. An industry insider said, "Although there was abuse, the fact that it received many votes itself is meaningful. The government and the National Assembly must have sensed a change in public opinion. They said they would pursue it as a mid- to long-term task, so we will wait for the government's or the National Assembly's decision."

Another industry insider said, "We have not yet responded business-wise to the deregulation, so there is no major impact," but added, "However, there is enough room to coordinate between small business owners and large supermarket businesses. Maintaining two days off per month but changing the days to weekdays is also an option." He also added, "Because agricultural, livestock, and fishery suppliers who deliver on weekends suffer losses when deliveries cannot be made, this should not be viewed simply as a sales issue for supermarkets."

Currently, large supermarkets are required to close twice a month under business regulations implemented in 2012. They are also prohibited from operating from midnight until 10 a.m. Due to this, there has been ongoing debate between those advocating for deregulation of distribution companies and consumer convenience by abolishing the closures, and those insisting on continuing mandatory closures to revitalize traditional markets.

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