The People Power Party kept up its offensive over the recent surge in volatility in the stock market, arguing that responsibility should be determined, with an emphasis on the government's accountability for introducing single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik of the People Power Party said on the 2nd on Facebook, "We propose a National Assembly inquiry to determine responsibility for the turmoil in the KOSPI and KOSDAQ stock markets," adding, "Right now our stock market is abnormal."
He added, "It is not normal that the KOSPI plunged 16.17% in just two days, nor is it normal that it soared 17.91% in a single Friday," noting, "Circuit breakers and sidecars, which you might see once a year if that, have now become routine."
The floor leader also said, "Recently the government did nothing but fuel overheating on top of overheating. It further amplified volatility that was already high," adding, "If instability in the stock market has grown due to the government's improper intervention and policy failures, and if, because of that, the public's retirement funds have evaporated on a large scale, then of course severe accountability must be sought."
He then named as subjects for a National Assembly inquiry: ▲ the process of introducing single-stock leveraged ETFs and their aftermath ▲ government actions that stoked overheating in the stock market ▲ government-driven disruptive negatives that heightened uncertainty, such as the debate over distributing corporations' excess profits ▲ trends in domestic stock investments by the National Pension Service and other pension funds and their appropriateness ▲ and the appropriateness of the roles of financial supervisory authorities and economic policy departments.
Chief deputy spokesperson Choi Eun-seok of the same party also said in a commentary that "by ramming through a perilous product in a slapdash, hasty manner, they plundered the public's assets and turned Korea's stock market into a gambling den; now, even their after-the-fact measures are being thrown together in a panic, as they flounder and lay bare the naked face of an amateur government."
He went on, "Kim Yong-beom, the senior presidential secretary for policy, should take responsibility for the slapdash policies that turned Korea's capital market into a speculator's playground and resign immediately," adding, "The public cannot accept the very notion that the person who caused the accident will also handle the damage control."