With the Seollal Lunar New Year’s Day just a week away, President Park Geun-hye paid a visit to Junggok Market, a traditional market in Gwangjin-gu, eastern Seoul, on February 10.

President Park came to the traditional market for the first time in two years, after visiting the place just after she came into office in February 2013.

Taking a look around, the president said with a surprised look that, “This place looks quite different from what it was just two years ago.” She went on to say that, “By all means, we must help our traditional markets rebound. Traditional markets are a litmus test for the underprivileged. Only when these markets are revitalized can the economy in which lower-income families exist return to life.”



The president then did some shopping for some of the food items needed to perform the ancestral rites on Seollal, such as large-eyed herrings, mushrooms, fruit and rice cake. She used Onnuri coupons, coupons designed for use only in traditional markets.

The president was greeted along the way by shoppers and venders, giving them words of encouragement and support.

Prior to the tour, President Park held a meeting with a group of representatives from vendor associations from across the nation. During the talks, the president said that, “I had a strong impression today that a lot of effort must have been made to make this traditional market a place where people can shop in a comfortable manner, and to turn it into a distinguished, unique place for shopping.”

“This was made possible thanks to large companies, which were willing to cooperate to make the market look better and flourish, national vendor associations that tried hard to serve their customers well, and to the government, which spared no expense to support the development of traditional markets. We all worked in harmony.”



By Sohn JiAe
Korea.net Staff Writer
jiae5853@korea.kr