Orders Active Measures Against Unfair Practices Such as Collusion
On the 30th, President Lee Jae-myung stated, "Why is it that only food prices have risen so much? This is because there has been a failure in the functions of the government," and instructed the relevant ministries to come up with countermeasures.
President Lee Jae-myung is speaking at the 44th Cabinet Meeting held at the Yongsan Presidential Office on the 30th. Photo by Yonhap News
On this day, at the Cabinet Meeting held at the Yongsan Presidential Office in Seoul, President Lee received reports on price trends and the status of countermeasures from the Bank of Korea, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Fair Trade Commission, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
He pointed out that, ahead of Chuseok, food prices are rising more than those of other products, and emphasized the need to manage "grocery basket prices."
In particular, President Lee remarked, "The rise in food prices began at the start of 2023, and we need to fundamentally question why it started at that time," adding, "We must see this as the government having lost its ability to control the situation from that point onward."
When Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Song Mireyong mentioned that the price of imported food had risen due to exchange rate issues, President Lee reiterated, "It is difficult to explain this by exchange rates alone," and emphasized, "It seems clear that the government was not functioning properly." President Lee assessed that the biggest cause of the failure to manage prices at that time was the previous administration's mistakes.
President Lee asked Fair Trade Commission Chairman Joo Byungki, "There is a strong possibility that collusion is taking place. Are there any cases where prices were raised through collusion to obtain excessive profits?" He went on to ask, "In the United States, forced breakups of monopoly companies are common. Do we have a similar system in our country?" and "Is it possible to issue price adjustment orders?" He called for strong and proactive measures from the Fair Trade Commission.
President Lee stressed, "If you loosen the reins on companies engaging in unfair practices, they will collude, monopolize, act abusively, and make excessive profits. Even in the Joseon Dynasty, people who hoarded and cornered the market were arrested and executed. It is the government's role to control such issues."
President Lee further commented, "When buying fruit, there is a saying: 'When the goby jumps, so does the cuttlefish,' meaning that when the price of one item rises, the prices of other items also go up. This is not the principle of the market. We must do everything we can to reduce the burden of rising prices on ordinary people."
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