A recent survey found that nearly 9 out of 10 small merchants in South Korea saw a decrease in their sales following the martial law crisis initiated by President Yoon Suk Yeol.
The Korea Federation of Micro Enterprises released the results of an online survey conducted over three days starting Dec. 10. The survey sampled 1,630 mom-and-pop merchants across the nation in the food, lodging, retail and personal service industries. According to the findings, 88.4 percent of respondents said their sales had decreased since the martial law decree of Dec. 3.
The largest group of respondents, 36 percent, reported that their sales had been halved, highlighting that nearly 4 in 10 small merchants suffered a sales decline greater than 50 percent due to the crisis that led to Yoon’s impeachment.
Additionally, 25.5 percent of respondents reported a sales decrease of 30-50 percent, 21.7 percent reported a decrease of 10-30 percent and 5.2 percent reported a decrease of less than 10 percent.
