Ahead of this year's Lunar New Year holiday, some online and offline stores will offer up to 50% off on key holiday items such as napa cabbage, radishes and mackerel. Gift sets sold at Hanaro Mart and the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives will also be offered at up to "half price." If you buy 34,000–40,000 won or more of agricultural, livestock or fishery products at traditional markets, you can get 10,000–40,000 won back in Onnuri gift certificates.
On the 28th, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Koo Yun-cheol announced the "2026 Lunar New Year livelihood stabilization measures" at a meeting of ministers on the economy and a separate meeting on people's livelihoods.
◇ "Half-price" holiday items? Here's where… get "payback" when you buy more at markets
At Naver, Kakao, Kurly, Hyundai Home Shopping, Lotte Mart, Hanaro Mart, E-MART and other retailers, key holiday items will be discounted up to 50%. Napa cabbage, radishes, eggs, pork, Alaska pollock, squid, hairtail, yellow croaker, mackerel and anchovies are included. A total of 91 billion won in government funds will be deployed for this.
From Feb. 2–16, nationwide Hanaro Mart and NongHyup Mall will offer up to 50% off fruit and premium Korean beef, known as hanwoo, gift sets, and from the 29th to Feb. 16, the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives and Kakao will sell mackerel, dried yellow croaker and abalone gift sets at up to 50% off.
There will also be rebate events. If you buy 34,000–67,000 won worth of agricultural and livestock products or fishery products, respectively, at traditional markets, you will get 10,000 won back in Onnuri gift certificates. If you buy more than 67,000 won, you will get 20,000 won back. Agricultural and livestock products and fishery products are calculated separately, so the maximum rebate is 40,000 won. Eligible markets and periods can be checked later on the Agricultural and Livestock Product Discount Support (sale.foodnuri.go.kr) and Korea Fisheries Sale (fsale.kr) websites.
◇ Keep your rest area receipts to get discounts on local tourist sites
There are benefits for those planning regional travel during the holiday. From Feb. 2–18, if you bring receipts for purchases made at highway rest areas nationwide, admission to 66 local tourist attractions will be discounted up to 60%. Detailed information on discounted attractions will be available later on the Korea Expressway Corporation (KEC) website (https://www.ex.co.kr/).
Highway tolls will be waived for four days during the holiday, Feb. 15–18. From Feb. 13–18, some trains, including return-to-hometown services on KTX and SRT, will be discounted 30–50%, and if four people travel together by train, tickets can be issued for 99,000 won for KTX and 49,000 won for KTX-Eum regardless of route. The four-person flat-rate product does not apply on Lunar New Year's Day. Free parking will be allowed for up to two hours on roads around traditional markets during the holiday.
Local Love gift certificates are planned to be issued in the amount of 4 trillion won through February. The discount rate for Local Love gift certificates will also be raised temporarily during Lunar New Year. Hoengseong County in Gangwon will raise it from 10% to 15%, and Yangsan City in South Gyeongsang will raise it from 10% to 13%.
Workers using the "worker vacation support program" through Feb. 28 will receive an additional 50,000 won on top of the existing 400,000 won in travel expenses. This program pools vacation funds from corporations and the government to foster a culture of flexible vacations at small and midsize companies. However, companies must apply for the program to participate.