SEOUL – South Korea’s 24-hour convenience stores saw an uptick in sales of essential items during the initial hours of shock following the martial law declaration on the night of Dec 3, local reports said.
According to Yonhap News Agency, citing local industry sources, during the one-hour period around 11pm on Dec 3 when martial law took effect, sales of daily necessities skyrocketed compared with regular days.
One convenience store chain, whose name was not disclosed, reported the highest uptick in canned goods, which surged by 337.3 per cent, followed by packaged instant noodles with a 253.8 per cent increase, compared with the same time period the previous week.
Sales of bottled water and instant rice also rose sharply, by 141 per cent and 128.6 per cent, respectively. Aside from food, dry cell batteries jumped by 40.6 per cent in sales, while first aid kits rose by 39.5 per cent.
Another convenience store chain also showed a similar trend in panic buying, reporting a surge in sales of food-related goods, with canned foods up by 75.9 per cent and instant rice by 38.2 per cent, compared with the same period the previous day. Bottled water and packaged instant noodles went up by 37.4 per cent and 28.1 per cent, respectively.
Industry officials noted that the consumers visiting stores during that time were mostly in their 50s and 60s – individuals who had previously experienced martial law in the 1980s.
Their rush to stockpile, they said, seems to have reflected a sense of “unease” stemming from those lived experiences. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
