Pohang Mayor Lee Gang-deok Heads into Public Life Ahead of Lunar New Year... Launches Traditional Market Relay Shopping Challenge

First Stop of the New Year Livelihood Tour: Visit to Jukdo Market to Hear Voices from the Field
Public-Private Cooperative Movement to Revitalize Local Commercial Districts
...All-Out Efforts to Boost Alleyway Businesses

Mayor Lee Kang-deok of Pohang City is stepping up on-site communication ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday by visiting livelihood sites to support the local economy and ensure a happy holiday with vulnerable groups.

On the 17th, Lee Gang-deok, Mayor of Pohang, visited Jukdo Market along with local related organizations and various groups to shop at the traditional market. Photo by Pohang City

As the first event of on-site communication for livelihood, Pohang City has launched the ‘Traditional Market Relay Shopping Challenge,’ a collaborative effort among Pohang City, businesses, and related organizations to overcome the stagnation of traditional markets and alleyway commercial districts.

On the 17th, Mayor Lee Kang-deok visited Jukdo Market with local related organizations and various groups to check the holiday price trends and invigorate the local economy by shopping at the traditional market.

He then had lunch with merchants to listen to the voices from the livelihood sites, encourage the merchants, and urged the market merchants to voluntarily engage in fire prevention efforts to prevent winter fires in traditional markets.

About 1,000 participants, including small business and microenterprise groups, the Northern Police Station, Northern Fire Station, POSCO labor union, IM Bank, NongHyup, the Forestry Cooperative, and associations of beauty salons and food service industries, joined the event. They purchased Lunar New Year ritual items and various local agricultural, livestock, and marine products using Pohang Love Gift Certificates and Onnuri Gift Certificates, contributing to revitalizing the livelihood economy.

Mayor Lee Kang-deok, the first participant in the challenge, nominated the ‘Pohang City Council’ as the next participant. The city plans to continue the shopping challenge linked with local businesses and organizations until the end of March and will also promote a public-private cooperative movement to revitalize local commercial districts by stimulating consumption at small business stores.

Additionally, through a department-by-department ‘Relay Shopping’ event involving all departments, the city aims to create an atmosphere where public officials take the lead in actively participating in revitalizing local commercial districts.

Mayor Lee Kang-deok urged citizens to actively participate in using traditional markets so that the vitality of traditional markets and alleyway commercial districts can be restored. He said, “We will listen to the voices of local merchants and citizens who are struggling due to prolonged economic downturn and weakened consumer sentiment and strive to prepare policies that can bring warmth to the local economy and livelihoods.”

Starting with this event, Mayor Lee Kang-deok will begin full-scale visits to livelihood sites for the Lunar New Year. Next week, he plans to visit local steel companies, the city’s main industry, and AI companies, promising future growth industries, to strengthen communication with local businesses.

He will also visit vulnerable groups such as elderly and disabled workers, as well as families with multiple children in the region. Furthermore, he will encourage related organizations and operational departments conducting emergency duty during the holiday period and urge thorough preparation for disaster and accident prevention to ensure citizens have a safe and comfortable holiday.

Mayor Lee Gang-deok nominated Kim Il-man, chairman of the Pohang City Council, as the next participant in the traditional market relay shopping challenge. Photo by Pohang City

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