President Lee Jae-myung said on the 24th regarding unfair trade such as collusion, "If someone reports it, give a big chunk of (collusion) reward money so it can change a life and fortune."
At a Cabinet meeting presided over at the Blue House that day, President Lee, after receiving a report from Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) Chairperson Ju Biung-ghi on the status of increasing investigators, said, "If you dig through the whole neighborhood, it's all dirty, so we have to fix everything."
President Lee said, "(The FTC staff) is far too small, so they can't conduct sufficient investigations. Corporations know that and are all violating the rules," adding, "We have to make them think that if they commit (illegal acts), they will all get caught." He continued, "If someone reports collusion of 400 billion won (in scale), give them several tens of billions," and said, "Make it so shocking that they think, instead of buying a lottery ticket, 'let's dig up collusion.'"
Regarding the recent detection by the FTC of sugar price collusion, he said, "If products that use sugar keep their prices the same, consumers won't benefit, and we must not allow the companies that demand sugar to monopolize the outcomes of the FTC's hard work." According to the FTC, the price of sugar recently fell 16.5%.
That day, FTC Chairperson Ju explained the FTC's authority to order price redetermination by saying, "If the government orders it, corporations can voluntarily lower prices." President Lee then said, "An order and doing it voluntarily is a logical contradiction," adding, "An order is something to be followed, so if they do not comply, what is the sanction?"
President Lee said, "To put it bluntly, our administration often drags its feet." He continued, "If that's the case, why make laws at all? We must devise clear sanctions, and if they do not comply, we must impose further sanctions so the authority of the administration stands."