South Korean President vows to ease burden on small merchants from delivery platform commissions

Seoul, Dec 2 (IANS) South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol pledged Monday to introduce measures to ease the burden on small merchants from delivery app commission fees, as part of efforts to boost sluggish domestic consumption.

Yoon vowed to implement measures during a public policy discussion session to support small merchants by addressing business challenges, such as high delivery fees, no-shows, and malicious online reviews, Yonhap news agency reported.

He said the government has allocated a record 59 trillion won ($42 billion) in next year's budget to support small businesses and self-employed individuals to help stimulate domestic demand and consumption.

"The government will provide unprecedented support for small merchants and the self-employed, as their difficulties remain unresolved," Yoon said during the debate held in Gongju, about 120 kilometres south of Seoul.

Yoon proposed cutting delivery commission fees for micro business owners by over 30 per cent within three years and exempting all traditional markets from all these fees.

He also announced plans to introduce measures later this month to reduce the commission rates for mobile gift certificates, currently ranging from 5-15 per cent, and to shorten the lengthy settlement period.

In response to the estimated annual loss of 4.5 trillion won due to no-shows, Yoon vowed to introduce a reservation deposit system to alleviate the burden on businesses and establish consumer dispute resolution standards.

To address malicious online reviews by customers, around 90 consultation centres will be established to handle such issues promptly, he said.

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