Small business owners and self-employed workers are reporting devastating impacts on what should be their peak season for sales. (Photo: a screenshot from an online forum)
SEOUL, Dec. 20 (Korea Bizwire) – Amid growing concerns over domestic consumption following the December 3 martial law crisis, small business owners and self-employed workers are reporting devastating impacts on what should be their peak season for sales.
A post titled “December Sales Have Gone Crazy Due to National Crisis” appeared on December 18 in an online community for self-employed workers, capturing the widespread distress among business owners.
The author, who runs an adult education business, described December’s performance as their worst in 10 years of operation. “December should be our peak season with the highest sales,” they wrote. “But the country has gone mad, and we can’t even reach average levels.” They explained that their business is particularly vulnerable to economic downturns because it serves adults rather than children, making it an early indicator of economic stress.
The business owner also reported that advertising costs have doubled since the martial law declaration, with cost-per-click (CPC) rates surging while engagement has plummeted. “People aren’t even clicking on ads anymore,” they noted.
The post described similar struggles among other local businesses. “I had lunch with a gym owner today who said it’s the worst they’ve ever seen. Everything seems to have come to a complete stop,” the education business owner added.
Another business owner commented, “The impact since the December 3 martial law has been enormous, and it’s not just me – everyone around me is suffering. It’s not just about money; our society has lost the capacity for discretionary spending.” Others suggested that fears of another martial law declaration are causing psychological distress, noting “People aren’t gathering or going out because they feel uneasy.”
Meanwhile, conservative YouTuber Jeong Gyu-jae has seen remarkable growth in his channel’s subscribers since the crisis. His channel “Jeong Gyu-jae TV Season 3″ gained about 8,000 new subscribers in just two weeks following December 3 – matching its total growth from the previous three months – bringing total subscribers to over 128,000.
Jeong has been particularly critical of President Yoon, calling him “a crazy person” and stating, “You were never really president, you were just playing at being president, just like you’re now playing at martial law.”
In a related development, a hamburger franchise location near Sangnoksu Station in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, has become an unintended target of public attention after reports emerged that former and current Defense Security Command commanders had met there to allegedly plot martial law. The restaurant has been flooded with reviews on Kakao Map, with users leaving comments such as “Hope you launch a martial law set menu,” “Memories of insurrection,” and “What kind of burger was so irresistible even to the insurrectionists?”
While some users have left one-star reviews with comments like “Is this where they sell rebellion burgers? Do they also sell a rebellion leader set?”, others have called for restraint, urging people not to harass uninvolved store managers and part-time workers. The franchise has officially stated it has “no connection to the incident.”
The crisis has also spawned numerous internet memes, including AI-generated images of a “four-egg burger” (a play on words as “egg” sounds similar to “martial law” in Korean) and parodies of advertising slogans, including one reading “Do you know the taste of martial law?”
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
