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Busan Metropolitan City Mobilizes Full Efforts to Stabilize Prices Ahead of the Lunar New Year Holiday, Strengthening Cooperation Among Related Agencies and Departments

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□ Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that it held the “Lunar New Year Holiday Price Stabilization Countermeasures Meeting” on January 29 in the conference room on the 26th floor of City Hall, where it reviewed the status of price stabilization measures directly affecting citizens’ daily lives ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday and discussed response plans by each agency.
○ The meeting was chaired by the Assistant Mayor of Digital Economy Office and was attended by around 20 officials from related agencies and organizations, including the National Tax Service, the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation, the Fair Trade Commission, and NongHyup.

□ The meeting first focused on reviewing measures to ensure stable supply and distribution of agricultural, livestock, and fisheries products.
○ Busan Metropolitan City is supplying 11,533 tons of four key holiday items—apples, pears, napa cabbage, and radish—in a timely manner, while expanding support for advance shipping payments and shipment incentive subsidies for wholesale corporations to strengthen collection activities at production areas. In addition, it plans to proactively respond to factors that could cause shortages and price instability by encouraging the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives and frozen and refrigerated warehouse operators to ship volumes on time.
○ NongHyup, major retailers, and traditional market merchants’ associations also attended, confirmed that supply and distribution conditions for key holiday items in the Busan area are currently stable, and agreed to cooperate closely in the event of future supply disruptions.
○ Along with these efforts, Busan Metropolitan City will operate direct-transaction markets—City Hall Thursday Market (February 5), Yeonje-gu Oncheoncheon (February 6–7), and Gijang-gun Office (February 5–6)—to sell agricultural and local specialty products at discounted prices, and will also work to ease the burden on citizens’ household grocery spending through an Onnuri Gift Certificate refund promotion (with participation from 18 traditional markets for agricultural and livestock products and 30 traditional markets for fisheries products).

<Agricultural and Livestock Products: Participating Markets> ○ Bosu Comprehensive Market, Chungmu-dong Dawn Market, Namhang Market, Bujeon Market Town, Dangam Sae Market, Dangam Alley Market, Dongnae Market, Suan Market, Jwadong Traditional Market, Bansong Big Market, Banyeo Agricultural Products Wholesale Market (Shopping Arcade Building), Hadan Oil Permanent Market, Jeong-i-itneun Gupo Market, Gupo Livestock Market, Mangmi Jungang Market, Seodong Hyangto Market, Seodong Traditional Alley Market, Yeondong Market <Fisheries Products: Participating Markets> ○ Bansong Big Market, Jwadong Traditional Market, Yeongdo Namhang Market, Banyeo Agricultural Products Wholesale Market (Shopping Arcade Building), Federation of (Association) Shindonga Fisheries Products General Market + (Association) Nampodong Dried Seafood Wholesale Market + Jagalchi Coastal Market + Busan Jagalbat Market, Jagalchi Market, Federation Seodong Hyangto Market + Seodong Traditional Alley Market, Federation Dongnae Market + Suan Certified Market, Chungmu-dong Coastal Market, Gijang Market, Bujeon Market Town, Federation Dangam Alley Market + Dangam Sae Market, Jeong-i-itneun Gupo Market, Federation Gwang-an Seafood Market + Millak Seafood Market + Millak Hoetawon + Millak C-Land Market + Millak Fishermen’s Live Fish Direct Sales Market + Millak Riverside Park Alley-Type Shopping District, Namcheon Beach Market, Dadae Sea Park Market, Goejeong Alley Market, Sinpyeong Alley Market, Jangnim Alley Market

□ Next, the related agencies (departments) agreed to jointly respond to stabilize prices in personal service industries such as dining and accommodation, and to prevent unfair taxi fares, in order to eradicate holiday price gouging.
○ Busan Metropolitan City plans to devote full efforts to eliminating price gouging not only during the holiday period but also in preparation for an increase in large-scale tourism demand, including the BTS Busan concert scheduled for June.
○ To this end, the head of the Tourism Policy Division and the head of the Public Health and Sanitation Division attended and agreed to strengthen an organic cooperation system by sharing reports received through the local government call center (120) and the Tourist Complaints Center (1330, operated by the Korea Tourism Organization) with the National Tax Service and the Fair Trade Commission, and by conducting focused inspections through analysis of excessive price increases, suspected false expense claims or sales omissions, and possible collusion.
○ In particular, if unfair taxi fares are detected during the holiday period, strict penalties will be applied without mitigation, and special crackdowns to eradicate illegal operations will be conducted regularly, centered on Gimhae Airport and Busan Station.

□ Kim Bong-cheol, Assistant Mayor of Digital Economy Office, said, “We will do our utmost not only to stabilize prices in ways that citizens can feel during the Lunar New Year holiday, but also to stabilize service charges to enhance trust in Busan as a world-class tourism city.”