Lee Jae-myung's 'Yeopchae-ryu' and Choi Moon-soon's 'Gamja' Sold Out in 1-2 Hours

Eco-friendly School Meal Agricultural Products Promotion Pamphlet posted on Instagram by Lee Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi Province

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Metropolitan governors including Lee Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi Province, and Choi Moon-soon, Governor of Gangwon Province, have transformed into promotional ambassadors for joint agricultural product purchase events to help local farms suffering from the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), receiving great responses.

On the 11th, Governor Lee Jae-myung and Governor Choi Moon-soon promoted 'leafy vegetables' such as lettuce produced in Gyeonggi Province and Gangwon Province's specialty 'potatoes' through social networking services (SNS) like Instagram, achieving a complete sell-out of all sales volume within 1 to 2 hours.

Earlier, Gyeonggi Province, through the Gyeonggi Agricultural and Food Distribution Promotion Institute, started an event to help local farms affected by COVID-19 by selling a 4kg box containing 11 types of leafy vegetables such as spinach, lettuce, perilla leaves, cherry tomatoes, and paprika for 20,000 won. The event was originally scheduled to run until the 18th. However, the prepared quantity (7,000 sets) sold out in just over 2 hours.

Governor Lee Jae-myung's Instagram promotion played a significant role.

On that day, Governor Lee posted on his Instagram with the message "Please participate in kind consumption," expressing concern about farm damage by saying, "Many people are experiencing economic difficulties due to the spread of COVID-19 infection. Especially, farms growing eco-friendly agricultural products for school meals are suffering great damage due to school closures."

He added, "Due to the nature of agricultural products, if they are not shipped on time, they have to be discarded, and the amount is reportedly as much as 348 tons," and introduced, "To help farms even a little, Gyeonggi Province and the Gyeonggi Agricultural and Food Distribution Promotion Institute have started a joint agricultural product purchase event."

Governor Lee further said, "A 4kg box containing 11 items such as spinach, lettuce, perilla leaves, cherry tomatoes, and paprika costs 20,000 won, and if you purchase more than 50 boxes jointly, you get a 2,000 won discount per box," adding, "I think this is a good opportunity to prepare a healthy table with eco-friendly agricultural products and share the worries of farms. I hope we can wisely overcome difficulties through solidarity and support."

The quantity planned to be sold over a week was sold out within 2 hours, and Kang Won-woo, Director of the Gyeonggi Agricultural and Food Distribution Promotion Institute, expressed gratitude to Governor Lee.

Director Kang said, "The quantity that was supposed to be sold over a week was completely sold out in just 2 hours thanks to the governor's help, with 7,000 sets of packages sold," and promised, "We will first issue an apology to the residents for not being able to supply more due to sold-out stock, and will quickly prepare additional quantities and announce again."

Gangwon Province Governor Choi Moon-soon is promoting Gangwon's specialty potatoes with a playful expression.

Governor Choi Moon-soon of Gangwon Province also shared via SNS on the same day, "To support Gangwon potato farmers suffering from the dining-out recession and reduced school food supplies caused by COVID-19, we are starting potato sales," and shared the potato purchase site address.

The potato sales site sold all 1,400 boxes of daily shipment volume within one hour of opening. The number of simultaneous visitors exceeded 100,000, causing the site to crash until the afternoon. Gangwon Province decided to continue the special price event until the potatoes are sold out after stabilizing the site.