By Kim Bo-eun

The Seoul Administrative Court ruled Friday that ordinances set by ward offices to limit operating hours of supermarkets affiliated with conglomerates are illegal.

Gangdong and Songpa districts in Seoul earlier set up their own ordinances to prohibit the conglomerate-affiliated retailers, better known as “super supermarkets,” from opening every second and fourth Sunday of the month, and between midnight and 8 a.m. every day.

They are operated by retail chains such as E-Mart, Lotte Mart and Home Plus.

The retail chains claim that the ordinances go against rights to conduct business and the conditions of fair competition guaranteed by the Constitution, as well as cause inconvenience to customers.

The court ruled in favor of the retailers.

“Ward offices have no legal right to enforce the compulsory closure,” judge Oh Seok-joon said. “It violates fair competition rules and hurts the industry.”

This despite the fact that the government introduced a series of moves designed to protect small shops from the threat of out-of-town superstores.

The Korea Chain Store Association, which represents the retail chains, filed administrative suits against five municipalities _ Gangdong and Songpa districts in Seoul as well as three cities in Gyeonggi Province ­ over enforced limitations in their operating hours.

The ruling against Gangdong and Songpa does not bode well for similar cases involving other ward offices.

Early this year, the government implemented the revised Distribution Industry Development Law, under which about 30 percent of discount stores, blamed for threatening the businesses of mom-and-pop stores and traditional markets, are closed every other Sunday.

Such stores have been subject to sensitive political debate amid increasing scrutiny over how big businesses are encroaching on markets traditionally occupied by small merchants.