Gov't to spend extra $67.2 mil. on food discounts ahead of Chuseok
Customers shop at a traditional market in Seoul, Sept. 1. Yonhap
Korea will allocate an additional 90 billion won ($67.2 million) to stabilize prices of major food items ahead of this month's extended Chuseok holiday, on top of the 103 billion won previously announced, the finance ministry said Wednesday.
The Ministry of Finance and Economy unveiled the plan as the country prepares to celebrate Chuseok, the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving, from Sept. 24-27. The holiday is marked by visits to hometowns, family reunions, ancestral rites, and preparation and consumption of specially prepared food.
The discount campaign, originally scheduled to run through Sept. 23, will continue until the end of the month.
The government will release another 2,000 tons of popular fishery products this month, supplementing an earlier batch of 20,000 tons.
It will work with 20 processed food manufacturers to offer discounts of up to 64 percent on 4,765 products, the finance ministry added.
The ministry, meanwhile, said the average cost of preparing a Chuseok ancestral rite table for a family of four was estimated at 331,089 won ($247), down 2.3 percent from a year earlier.