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| People line up to buy masks at a pharmacy in Jongno District, Seoul, Friday. /Yonhap |
By Kim Se-jeong
On Friday morning, people outside a pharmacy in Mapo District, Seoul, had their identity cards ready as they waited in line to buy masks.
The use of identity cards for the purchase of masks is part of the government's new restrictions.
According to the government, on Fridays, only people who were born on a year ending in a zero or five can buy masks. Mondays are for those whose birth year ends with the number one or six; Tuesday for those with a two or seven; Wednesday for people with a three or eight; and Thursday with a four or nine. On weekends, anyone who did not purchase masks during the week may buy them.
The new system is the latest measure taken by the government in an attempt to ensure the fair distribution of limited masks. A skyrocketing number of COVID-19 cases and the resulting public alarm led to a shortage of masks nationally, and the government is now intervening in production and distribution.
People in cities can buy them at pharmacies, while those who live in Daegu, Cheongdo in North Gyeongsang Province and other small counties can also buy them at post offices and NongHyup Bank's Hanaro stores.
Even with the new restrictions, the masks at the pharmacy in Mapo didn't last very long. In less than 30 minutes, the masks ran out and the pharmacist had to turn people away.
Many are dissatisfied with the new requirement.
"It's nonsense that I need my ID card to buy masks," a lady in her 60s told Yonhap News Agency outside the pharmacy. "I wanted to buy some for my husband because he's at work, but they didn't allow me to do that. This is quite frustrating."
People with young children and sick family members were not happy with the ID requirement, either.
"This is a bad idea. Does it mean old people with knee problems have to stand in line for hours to buy masks?" one Naver user with the ID sksc**** said. The new government policy doesn't allow people to buy masks on behalf of others.
Starting from next Monday, people will only be allowed to purchase two masks per week. The pharmacies began registering purchases using ID cards, meaning they will be notified if someone attempts to buy more than two.
Meanwhile, the government has been cracking down on companies stockpiling masks, raiding ten mask producers and trading companies on Friday which had allegedly hoarded the in-demand item. With revised legislation in place, violators can be punished with up to five years in prison or a fine of 50 million won.
The government's intervention in the mask market is upsetting producers who argue they are losing money.
One mask producer announced Friday that the company would close down its production lines.
"The government reached out to us to buy what we had produced, but they offered an extremely low price and forced us to accept it. We had to hire another employee and run the machine for 24 hours a day without a break, but we produced the masks because of the crisis. We've lost motivation now. We're shutting it down," the owner said to a local media outlet.
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