Gov. Park Soo-hyun visits alley shopping districts and specialty markets Monday as part of 'Boosting Small Business Owners' project
South Chungcheong Province Governor Park Soo-hyun has been making the rounds of alley commercial districts and traditional markets across the province, actively incorporating the voices of small business owners into policy through field-centered, communicative governance.
On Monday, Park visited the alley shopping district along Seocheon Market Street, stopping in turn at a seafood stall and a fruit stall and making purchases as the stores' first customer of the day — a traditional practice known as "masugeolli," meant to bring good fortune to a business.
Park also checked on store operations and consumer prices, listened to the difficulties merchants face on the ground and offered words of encouragement.
The visit was the second outing under the province's "Boosting Small Business Owners: Park Soo-hyun Applauds You" project, which aims to strengthen communicative governance and revive the livelihoods economy. The first took place at Yeonsan Traditional Market in Nonsan on Nov. 2.
South Chungcheong Province hopes the governor's hands-on "first-purchase visits" to small business sites will serve as a catalyst, encouraging residents to spend consciously and driving real sales of goods from alley-district merchants.
After the alley district stop, Park walked to the nearby Seocheon Specialty Market to continue his livelihood tour. The market has been operating out of a temporary facility since a fire broke out in 2024, and a reconstruction project for a new permanent market is currently underway.
At Seocheon Specialty Market, Park met with merchants' association head Park Jong-min and other vendors, offering comfort to those who have persevered through the fire damage to keep their businesses running and listening to their concerns about the reconstruction project.
kwonhl@heraldcorp.com
