<Anchor> As the



Corona 19 is getting longer, there are a lot of vacant stores on the streets that are closed today.

There are some shops that ask you to do business because you can't just leave it empty, so you can place a so-called'calse' where you receive a few months' rent at a time without a deposit, or even do not receive rent.



Reporter Han Ji-yeon reported.



<Reporter> The



street in front of Ewha Womans University in Seoul is so busy that there is no one going back and forth.



As customers were cut off due to the prolonged COVID-19 outbreak, the number of malls closed here and there has increased significantly.



In some places, all five stores in a row are empty.



Shops that have been selling clothes for 13 years in the neighborhood's most throaty spot will also close next month.



[Kim Myung-sook/owner of a clothing store near Ewha Womans University: It's the first time I've never seen a business like this, and it's too bad.

Whenever it comes, it will go out of business.

You give up your rights and go out.] The



situation is also not good in the underground shopping malls in the city center connected to the subway station.



A piece of paper was stuck in one house across the four houses to announce the end of business.



[Euljiro Underground Shopping Mall Shoe Store Owner: If it is negative to keep it, would you have written'Organization'?] In



the case of Jongno and Shinchon, major commercial districts in Seoul, the vacancy rate of the shopping malls recently exceeded 10%, and in Itaewon and Myeongdong, at 30%. It's close.



You can't just leave it blank, and dozens of posts a day appear on related sites saying that you will receive so-called'Calse' to receive monthly rent in advance without a deposit and contract.



[Dongdaemun shopping mall renter: If the tax is two hundred thousand won or two hundred thousand won...

You can use it for 6 months or 6 months in advance.]



There are some shops that ask

you to

do business without paying rent, but there are many merchants who claim that the management fee is heavy.



[Merchant A: Most of them are all because I only pay the management fee.

Well, it's all empty, so even the owners pay only the maintenance fee (thank you…)]



[Merchant B: I pay the maintenance fee as well, but it's serious now.

(Because there are no people), we couldn't even start and meet up.]



Amid the overall contraction of self-employment due to the coronavirus, the downtown commercial district, where the floating population drastically declined, is suffering even more.



(Video editing: Yoomira, VJ: Park Hyunwoo)