President Lee Jae-myung said on the 8th, "If you try to make some money by hoarding for profit, you will be completely ruined," adding, "If you are caught, even if we want to let it slide, we cannot." It came two days after he ordered at a recent Cabinet meeting that, to root out market-disrupting acts, the reward rate under the current Act on the Protection of Public Interest Whistleblowers, now "up to 10% of the recovered amount," be raised to around 30%.
On X (formerly Twitter) that day, Lee wrote, "There are people who still do not realize the world has changed and are heading down a path to ruin with outdated thinking, so I am letting you know in advance." He also said, "By law, if you hoard for profit, all of the targeted items are confiscated, and if confiscation is difficult, the monetary value is collected," adding, "Confiscation and collection are mandatory, so once you are caught, even if we want to let it slide, we cannot."
As supply concerns over medical products such as syringes grow on top of raw material supply issues stemming from the prolonged Middle East war, the government is raising the level of sanctions against hoarding for profit across sectors. It plans to introduce high-intensity penalty surcharges and ensure that "confiscation of goods" specified in law is carried out swiftly in practice. In particular, following Lee's instructions at the Cabinet meeting on the 6th, the government is discussing a plan to raise the whistleblower reward for hoarding for profit to 20%–30% of the recovered amount.
Lee said, "By law, if you hoard for profit, all of the goods are confiscated, and if confiscation is difficult, the monetary value is collected," adding, "Because confiscation and collection are mandatory, once you are caught, even if we want to let it slide, we cannot." He also said, "Under the whistleblower reward system, 20%–30% of the value of the hoarded goods is paid as a reward—do you think you won't get caught?" adding, "The era of abnormality is ending and the era of normalcy has begun. If you try to seek undue gains by relying on abnormality, you will pay a heavy price."