The large koreran supermarkets in Seoul's Jung-gu district will now be able to remain open on Sundays without interruption.
The stores that will operate on Sundays include Lotte Mart Zeta Plus Seoul Station, E-Mart Cheonggyecheon, Homeplus Express Sindang, and No Brand Store in Dongdaemun Doota Mall.
These stores have decided to designate the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month as their mandatory closure days, instead of Sundays.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy, which oversees the Distribution Industry Development Act, announced on the 15th that Jung-gu, Seoul, had finalized this decision and would implement it starting from the 24th.
Jung-gu becomes the third district in Seoul to move the mandatory closure days of large supermarkets to weekdays, following Seocho-gu and Dongdaemun-gu.
Despite being home to 49 traditional markets—the highest number among all local municipalities in the country—Jung-gu succeeded in securing an agreement to allow Sunday operations for large marts.
To achieve this, traditional markets and large retail businesses formed a voluntary consultative body and held multiple discussions over three months starting in August. Officials from Jung-gu and the Ministry of Industry also participated in persuading stakeholders.
In September, the consultative body requested Jung-gu Office to publicize the change in mandatory closure days, and on the 14th, Jung-gu Office officially finalized the change.
The mandatory closure system for large supermarkets, introduced in 2012, has faced ongoing debates about its effectiveness due to the rapid growth of online retail markets.
For Korean shopping and business agency services
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