The People Power Party urged President Lee Jae-myung and the government to launch diplomatic negotiations as the Middle East crisis disrupts supplies of petrochemical raw materials.
People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok said on the 5th on Facebook, "Two Japanese ships have passed through the Strait of Hormuz," adding, "We have 26 ships and about 180 crew members stuck, and I wonder what President Lee Jae-myung, once called a 'diplomacy genius,' is doing."
He continued, "The government is first trying to gag the public. If we talk about 'oil price surge,' 'shutdown,' 'crisis,' and 'shortage,' it says it will crack down as 'fake news,'" and added, "Oil prices have already surged, and naphtha plants are on the verge of shutdown. There is a crisis of shortages from pay-as-you-go trash bags to delivery containers. I don't know what is supposed to be fake news."
Jang also said, "Instead of policing the public, they need to enter diplomatic negotiations. That is what the president and the government should do," adding, "Whether he is a 'diplomacy genius' or a 'paper tiger at home' will soon be revealed."
Chief spokesperson Choi Bo-yoon of the same party mentioned the shortage of medical consumables such as IV fluid bags and syringes occurring at medical sites.
In a commentary the same day, Chief Spokesperson Choi said, "The raw material supply chain collapse due to the prolonged Middle East crisis is taking direct aim at the medical field, the last bastion of public health," adding, "From bottles for children's liquid cold medicine to IV bags and syringes, the lifelines of emergency rooms, the shortage of essential medical consumables is entering the stage of medical paralysis."
She went on, "To prevent production stoppages caused by soaring costs, the government must immediately review emergency production support measures such as temporary subsidies or tax support," adding, "Implement emergency supply-and-demand adjustment measures in parallel, such as flexible application of National Health Insurance reimbursement rates, so that rising consumable prices are not passed on as disruptions in treatment or burdens on patients."