President Lee Jae-myung on the 6th addressed what he called the oil industry's "gas price gouging," saying, "We will mobilize all available policy tools and respond firmly." The message followed his orders at an extraordinary Cabinet meeting the previous day to designate government-level fuel price caps and impose a penalty surcharge, and his social media post signaling tough sanctions.
In the afternoon, Lee presided over a senior secretaries meeting at Cheong Wa Dae and said, "To minimize the impact of the Middle East situation on key livelihood areas such as finance, energy and the real economy, we must mobilize all available policy tools," adding, "Above all, we must respond very sternly and decisively to antisocial evils that seek to take unfair windfall profits by exploiting the community's difficulties, such as gas price gouging."
With the fronts of the United States, Israel and Iran spreading across the Middle East and concerns growing over a spike in oil prices, the remarks targeted domestic refiners raising prices even before international oil prices are reflected. Earlier the same morning, Lee wrote on X (formerly Twitter), "Collusive price manipulation is a grave crime against the public," adding, "You will soon find out how great the price to pay is."
◇ Aiming at unfair gains in stocks and real estate as well… "If caught, your life will be ruined"
He also said he would prepare tools to punish "unfair gains." Lee said, "We must move as fast as possible to normalize the seven major abnormalities—drug crimes, public office corruption, voice phishing, illegal real estate activities, large-scale malicious tax delinquencies, stock price manipulation, and serious industrial accidents—that have a major impact on people's daily lives."
He added, "We will establish the perception that if you try to take unfair gains and get caught, you will instead suffer economic losses to the point of no recovery, that your life can be ruined," and said, "There are many cases where well-prepared systems do not operate sufficiently. We must thoroughly enforce existing systems and, if necessary, move quickly to improve them."
The government is reviewing a plan to set maximum fuel prices by region and fuel type and impose a penalty surcharge if a higher price is charged. According to Article 2 of the Price Stabilization Act, the government may designate maximum prices for important goods, real estate rents and the like by presidential decree only when it is deemed necessary for the stability of people's livelihoods and the national economy in situations of domestic or external disturbances, natural disasters, or urgent fiscal and economic crises.