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| People wait in line outside Haengbok department store in Yangcheon District in Seoul to buy masks, Sunday. /Yonhap |
By Kim Se-jeong
Consumers can purchase masks from all post offices from Monday, according to the government, to help prevent transmission of the new coronavirus.
On Sunday, Korea Post said it will distribute 650,000 masks through the nation's 1,406 post offices starting from Monday. Each customer can buy up to five masks at a time at a price of 1,000 won per mask.
Nonghyup stores are also selling masks.
The new coronavirus outbreak has caused an unprecedented shortage of masks. To keep supply and prices under control, the government has begun to regulate production, distribution and exports.
On Saturday, the government said it supplied nearly 4.5 million masks via public organizations. Among them, 1.54 million went to the southern cities of Daegu and Cheongdo, North Gyeongsang Province. About 2.1 million were in the Seoul metropolitan area.
Despite the increased supply, people are still having difficulty finding masks. People have been lining up en masse in front of stores waiting for a chance to buy masks and stocks have quickly depleted.
"I gave up my weekend to buy a few masks. It's like it is more difficult to buy masks than a gold ring," a 30-year-old citizen in Daejeon was quoted as saying by Yonhap News Agency.
Earlier last week, the government decided to allow no more than of 10 percent of daily total output for export and to distribute 50 percent through government and public organizations.
The rule took effect Wednesday, but post offices and Nonghyup Bank branches didn't have the masks ready, drawing public criticism.
Police, meanwhile, intensified their crackdown on illegal hoarding of face masks as some distributors bought the masks bulk in an attempt to sell for higher prices.
The Seoul Geumcheon Police Station booked two men who allegedly attempted to smuggle out around 20,000 face masks.
Police in Incheon also are investigating two merchants over the suspected hoarding of 29,000 masks.
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