Gwangju Mayor Lee Yong-seop Visits Livelihood Sites During Small Business Special Week

Listening to Issues and Assessing the Effectiveness of Public Stability Measures on Jodae Rose Street

On the afternoon of the 8th, Lee Yong-seop, Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, visited Jodae Rose Street in Dong-gu to encourage merchants struggling due to COVID-19. Photo by Gwangju Metropolitan City

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Lee Yong-seop, mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, personally entered the living sites of small business owners to understand the difficulties caused by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and to prepare customized measures.

As part of the operation of the 'Special Week to Overcome COVID-19,' the special week for small business owners (March 8-13), Mayor Lee visited Jangmi Street at Chosun University on the afternoon of the first day, March 8, to identify the challenges faced by small business owners.

Mayor Lee first visited three cafes and restaurants that received the city's special guarantee loans with the 3-no benefits of no collateral, no interest, and no guarantee fees, which were provided to small business owners and self-employed people affected by COVID-19, as well as stores currently participating in the Gwangju-type delivery app project, to directly check whether the city's livelihood support is effective on the ground.

Gwangju City has so far supported about 657.1 billion won in loans to 28,405 businesses through three rounds of the 3-no special guarantee loans and has been covering interest and guarantee fees for one year. In addition, starting from the 1st of next month, the city will provide a low brokerage fee service of around 2% through the pilot operation of the Gwangju public delivery app.

Mayor Lee said, "I fully understand the feelings of merchants who are experiencing great difficulties despite reopening their businesses while strictly adhering to quarantine rules," and added, "Following the 12th livelihood stabilization measures implemented to revitalize the local economy, we will continue to devise multifaceted support measures, such as the Gwangju-type delivery app, to alleviate the difficulties of small business owners."

Meanwhile, on the same day, Mayor Lee met with landlord Koo Myung-hak, who is actively participating in the 'Good Rent Reduction Movement' on Jangmi Street at Chosun University, to express gratitude and encouragement for showing great courage despite the difficult situation.

Landlord Koo Myung-hak has been practicing coexistence between landlords and tenants by reducing rent by about 7 million won for two stores from March until now, in response to the increased difficulties faced by tenants due to the contraction of consumer sentiment caused by COVID-19.