A Unified Front to Save Traditional Markets
(Published July 17, 2012)

Eleven departments took part in a meeting aimed at drawing up practical plans to help markets
Market space for the direct sale of agricultural products, establishment of libraries inside the markets, and more were on the table.

◇ Gyeonggi Province brought together all the associated departments to begin preparing comprehensive measures for the revitalization of traditional markets. ⓒ G-News Plus

Gyeonggi Province has pledged its full support to finding a way to revitalize its traditional markets by bringing together the expertise of each provincial department.

On July 17^th, Gyeonggi Province held an exploratory meeting on the revitalization of traditional markets, chaired by Jeon Seong-tae, Assistant Governor for Economy & Investment. At the meeting, provincial officials discussed how each department could work to give a much-needed boost to traditional markets, which have faced difficulties since the emergence of supermarkets and other large retailers.

Eleven departments were represented at the meeting, including the Economy & Investment Office, the Office of the Spokesperson, the Planning & Management Office, the Administration & Autonomy Advisory Office, the Culture, Sports, and Tourism Office, and the Firefighting & Disaster Headquarters. Each of these departments put forward measures for saving the province’s traditional markets in a manner appropriate to their authority and identified viable tasks for implementation.

Briefly, here are some of the more important measures proposed by each department. The Economy & Investment Office resolved to promote markets by selecting a major market day featuring items on sale, developing a homepage and portal site for traditional markets, identifying famous places inside markets (popular restaurants and talented craftsmen), and making a list tentatively titled “Gyeonggi’s Top Five Markets.”

In addition, the Office of the Spokesperson suggested promoting the markets through a variety of media channels, the Planning Office proposed supporting a legal service for vendors at traditional markets, and the Administration & Autonomy Advisory Office discussed the possibility of providing prize money for employees’ birthdays and environmental assessment through “whole world” gift certificates.

Other motions raised at the meetings included culture and art performances at traditional markets (by the Culture, Sports, and Tourism Office), the direct sale of farm products inside traditional markets (by the Agriculture Office), the provision of a kids’ café and leadership education for female vendors (by the Women and Family Office), and support and guidance for designing signs that display the country of origin of products in traditional markets (by the Livestock and Forest Office).

The Lifelong Education Office moved to create libraries in traditional markets, the Transportation & Construction Bureau proposed promoting the markets using transportation media such as screens on buses, and the Firefighting Bureau pledged to support the inspection and improvement of unsafe facilities in the markets.

Prior to this, Gyeonggi Province had been working on a number of projects to revitalize traditional markets which included modernizing facilities, providing extra support by establishing sister relationships between markets and universities, and helping markets become more specialized. But this is the first time that all of the departments have got together and discussed ways of invigorating the markets.

“In the past, the Economy & Investment Office was the only department to implement policies aimed at supporting the traditional markets, but it is significant in this time of economic hardship for ordinary people that all the provincial departments have come up with comprehensive support measures,” said Jeon Seong-tae, Assistant Governor for Economy & Investment. “We will be making every effort to ensure that the motions passed in each department are faithfully implemented.”

ⓒ G-News Plus News | Chun Gyeong-nam chun0403@kg21.net

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