The People Power Party called for the dismissal of Kim Yong-beom, the Blue House policy chief.
On the 12th, Choi Bo-yoon, senior spokesperson of the People Power Party, said in a commentary, "Last year there were only nine days when the KOSPI swung more than 3% in a day, but this year it has already reached 42 days," and added, "Program trading stops once every four days, and about once a month the entire market freezes." Choi called this "not a normal investment market, but a 'Squid Game' stock market where you have to survive to the end to make money."
Choi said, "At the starting point of this disastrous situation is policy chief Kim Yong-beom." He was referring to the launch of single-stock leveraged ETFs five months after Kim held a closed-door meeting in January with heads of securities firms and asset management companies.
Choi said, "Inside the financial authorities, there were concerns about increased volatility and market distortion, but testimony says they could not defy the overbearing orders from the policy office," adding, "In the end, all 14 products launched were concentrated in Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, and a vicious cycle began in which the ups and downs of the two stocks, through mechanical trading, rattled the entire market."
Choi said, "Even with things in this state, Kim, who led the policy, merely said, 'If supplementation is needed, it will be decided at the market situation review meeting,' passing the buck to the ministries as if speaking about someone else and offering no word of regret," adding, "The policy office rammed it through and the financial authorities caved—this is precisely the reality of Blue House–driven government-controlled finance and the main culprit that brought small investors to tears of blood."
Choi also criticized Kim's major missteps on real estate and the exchange rate. Choi said, "The chokehold-on-lending real estate policy led by Kim sent the average price of Seoul apartments soaring to 1.59 billion won, kicking away the housing ladder, and the remarks tolerating a high exchange rate entrenched an era of 1,500 won to the dollar."
Choi said, "Kim should immediately apologize directly before the public, and President Lee Jae-myung should hold him heavily accountable for the horrific failure brought on by rash policies and dismiss policy chief Kim Yong-beom at once."
Yoon Sang-hyun, a lawmaker with the People Power Party, also joined the criticism. In a Facebook post, Yoon said, "He abruptly choked off mortgage lending, sent rough signals to the foreign exchange market, and threw his weight behind introducing single-stock leveraged products that bet twofold on the share prices of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix," adding, "Looking at Kim Yong-beom now, I cannot help but ask: Where has the economic official Kim Yong-beom we knew gone?"
Yoon said, "The policy chief is not a shock trooper who forces the president's will on the market. Rather, the person should accurately convey the market's warnings to the president and, when politics tries to cross the line of the economy, sometimes be able to say, 'No,'" adding, "We want to see again the diligent and balanced economic official Kim Yong-beom we knew. It is not too late yet."