[News Today] SUNGSIMDANG RENT CONTROVERSY

[LEAD]
The renowned bakery, Sungsimdang will be able to remain their store at Daejeon Station branch. After the dispute due to high rent, KORAIL Retail has decided to lower the rent, although this may lead to discussions about fairness with other tenants.

[REPORT]
Almost every passenger waiting for a train at this station has a similar looking bag or two. Inside are baked treats sold at Sungsimdang, the hottest bakery in Daejeon.

Measuring 300 square meters, this bakery posts average monthly sales of 2.6 billion won, or nearly 2 million dollars.

Back in April it was on the verge of a closure because KORAIL Retail wanted to more than triple the store's monthly rent to 440 million won, or around 330,000 dollars.

Yoo Young-bong / Goyang resident
If this famous bakery disappears, it will affect local businesses and hurt Daejeon's pride.

KORAIL Retail said it applied the minimum fee of 17% of sales in line with its guidelines, but public bids have failed five times due to the controversy over the whopping rent.

With the extended contract slated to end next month, even politicians stepped in to help.

KORAIL Retail discussed the matter with the Board of Audit and Inspection and agreed to cut the monthly rent for this contract to 6% of sales.

The newly notified monthly rent is 133 million won, or around 100,000 dollars, nearly similar to the existing rent.

KORAIL Retail official / (VOICE MODIFIED)
We wanted to come up with a solution because finding a bidder without making concessions would be unrealistic.

Now that KORAIL Retail has made a concession, the bakery will try to win the bid for the Daejeon station branch and continue its operations there.

While the controversy over the skyrocketing rent for Sungsimdang seems to have subsided now, the issue of fairness toward other stores could surface anew.

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