Park visits local food market in Gimpo ‘to inspect people’s livelihoods’

President Park Geun-hye visited a store selling local foods directly supplied by producers in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province on Friday. She took on a tour to inspect people’s livelihoods again 10 days after visiting Seomun Market in Cheongju City, North Chungcheong Province on last Tuesday. A local food market sells agro-fisheries products produced in local areas directly to consumers without involving middlemen.

On March 13, last year, soon after her inauguration, Park took her first tour to check people’s livelihoods by visiting NongHyup (National Agricultural Cooperative Federation)’s Hanaro Club in southern Seoul, and instructed officials to improve distribution structure of agro-fisheries products. By the end of this year, 60 local food markets will be established across the nation.

However, the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy claimed that “(Park is) suspected of having intervened in election,” because Gimpo is a district embracing the July 30 by-election. Rep. Hwang Ju-hong of the party, who had agreed to accompany the president, did not show up by citing intra-party issues.

Prior to visiting the store in Gimpo, the president was debriefed on preparation for the Incheon Asian Games that is 70 days away, and took inspection tour to the main stadium and other facilities.