Self-Employed Angered by Business Restrictions Hold 'Light-On Protest' During Lunar New Year Holiday

On the 1st, as the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic increases difficulties for small business owners and self-employed individuals, signs of nearby shops are attached to a rest area cordoned off with COVID-19 access restriction tape in the Euljiro underground shopping mall in Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] Self-employed business owners protesting the government's business restriction measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 will hold a "lighting protest" by keeping their stores lit during the Lunar New Year holiday period.

According to the "COVID-19 Response Self-Employed Emergency Countermeasures Committee" on the 11th, about 60,000 stores in the metropolitan area will participate in the lighting protest by turning on their store lights from 9 PM to midnight during the Lunar New Year holiday. Although the stores will not accept customers from 9 PM to midnight, they will keep the store and sign lights on to express their protest. Some stores have already been conducting the lighting protest since the beginning of this month.

Since the 8th, the Emergency Committee has been holding opening protests mainly at PC rooms, coin karaoke rooms, and pubs in Seoul to oppose the business restrictions.