Chuseok is about three weeks' away, but many Korean employees will have to pass through the holiday with thinner pockets this year.

Firms have been shrinking their plans to pay bonuses and gifts for the holidays due to the ever-worsening economy. Chuseok, or Korea's harvest moon festival, falls on October 1, which is August 15 on the lunar calendar. Most Korean firms take three to five days off, starting from September 30.

Electronics firms plan to pay Chuseok bonuses at the same levels as last year. Samsung Electronics will pay out a bonus of 100 percent of each worker's basic wage as it did last year. LG Electronics is going to pay the same level of bonus as its rival Samsung, but will add a gift of company-made electronics goods worth W100,000 each.

Hyundai Motor, enjoying booming sales in the first half this year, plans to pay a bonus of 50 percent on top of W150,000, dubbed "travel expenses" for the autumnal festival. About half of Koreans are expected to travel to their hometowns during Chuseok.

Ailing firms, however, canceled their plans for bonuses and gifts. Hynix Semiconductor, for an instance, is going to pay a 100-percent bonus as usual, but it will forego a chuseok gift this year. Daewoo Motor will not be able to pay anything this year.

(Kim Jong-ho, tellme@chosun.com )