A worker is seen at a convenience store in Seoul, Nov. 18. (Newsis)
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 Tuesday night, local reports said.
According to Yonhap News Agency, citing local industry sources, during the one-hour period from 11:00 p.m. Tuesday, when martial law took effect, sales of daily necessities skyrocketed compared to regular days.
One convenience store chain, whose name was not disclosed, reported the highest uptick in canned goods, which surged by 337.3 percent, followed by packaged instant noodles with a 253.8 percent increase, compared to the same time period the previous week.
Sales of bottled water and instant rice also rose sharply, by 141 percent and 128.6 percent, respectively. Aside from food, dry cell batteries jumped by 40.6 percent in sales, while first aid kits rose by 39.5 percent.
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 percent and instant rice by 38.2 percent compared to the same period the previous day. Bottled water and packaged instant noodles went up by 37.4 percent and 28.1 percent, 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.
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