'Post Office Masks' Continue to Be Sold in Vulnerable Areas

On the 28th, as the number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection increases, residents are purchasing masks at Munsan Post Office in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. Photo by Jinhyung Kang, Paju aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] Although the public sale of health masks ended on the 11th, post offices in towns and townships nationwide, where mask purchasing conditions are vulnerable, will continue to sell masks until the end of next month.

The Korea Post under the Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 12th that 1,234 post offices in towns and townships nationwide will continue selling public masks until the end of next month, and 78 post offices in Daegu will continue until the end of this month.

Among these, in 92 areas where there are no private facilities such as pharmacies or NongHyup to purchase masks, public sales will continue indefinitely through post offices and the Post Office Shopping Mall. The price of masks sold by post offices is 1,200 KRW per mask. Post offices selling health masks can be checked on the Korea Post website.

The headquarters stated that since starting public mask sales in the Daegu and Cheongdo areas on February 27, they have sold 10 million masks to date.

Jongseok Park, head of Korea Post, said, "As COVID-19 is prolonged, we have established our own sales plan to ensure the stable end of public mask supply," and added, "We will continue to do our best to secure and sell health masks so that there are no blind spots in mask distribution."