By Kim Rahn
Opticians, real estate agents, hagwon operators and bar owners will close their businesses Wednesday to protest against high credit card swipe fees.
The Federation of Professional Economic-Person Societies said that about 5 million members of the group will shutter their businesses, with about 20,000 of them participating in a rally at 1:30 p.m. at Jangchung Gymnasium in Seoul.
This is the second such collective action against high card fees following one organized by the Korea Restaurant Association last month.
“Most of our businesses are comprised of mom-and-pop stores. Credit card companies collect high fees from them and we can’t tolerate it anymore. Through the rally, we want to let people know the financial difficulty we are suffering,” a leader of the federation said.
They are calling for credit card companies to lower the fees to about 1.5 percent — the fees on hagwons are currently 3-3.5 percent, those on opticians’ shops, 2.6-2.8 percent, and those on bars and clubs, 4.5 percent.
Sixty businesses will join the collective action, including, opticians, real estate agencies, hagwons, jewelry shops, massage services, karaoke establishments, bars and night clubs.
The response from citizens is of no great concern because during the previous collective action by restaurant owners, not many restaurants actually closed despite the association’s advanced notice.
“Unlike restaurants, a one-day closure of real estate agencies or jewelry shops won’t affect people’s daily life greatly. In the case of night clubs or karaokes, not many people will think it urgent to visit them on that specific day,” said 37-year-old office worker Park Tae-yeon.