President Lee Points to Coupang: "No Fear of Punishment... Criminal Penalties Are Ineffective"

"Accelerate the Economic Criminal Penalty Rationalization Task Force
and Impose Appropriate Economic Burdens"

President Lee Jaemyung has called for accelerating the shift toward imposing economic sanctions-such as fines and penalty surcharges-instead of criminal punishment for illegal acts in the economic sector. He also indirectly referred to the recent large-scale personal information leak incident at Coupang.

Yonhap News Agency

On December 11, during a Ministry of Economy and Finance work report at the Sejong Convention Center International Conference Hall, President Lee stated, "The government has established a task force for rationalizing economic criminal penalties, and we need to speed up its efforts."

President Lee pointed out that criminal law-based punishments often result in the punishment of working-level managers rather than company owners or those who benefit, and that investigations and trials can take as long as five to six years to conclude. Given the limitations of criminal law-based punishment, President Lee believes that expanding civil liability for damages and correcting wrongdoing through economic sanctions is the right approach.

He said, "Such punishments have no deterrent effect. Even at 'something-pang,' they violated regulations, didn't they?" He added, "Those people are not afraid of punishment at all." Although he did not mention the company by name, it was interpreted as a reference to Coupang. He emphasized, "Illegal acts in the economic sector must be met with appropriate economic burdens," and added, "Now that the task force has been established, its work needs to be accelerated."

During the National Tax Service work report, President Lee called for thorough management of large-scale tax delinquencies and non-tax revenue arrears. He said, "When I asked for a large-scale delinquency management team, I heard that only 2,000 people were assigned," and added, "Based on my experience in Seongnam City and Gyeonggi Province, even increasing the number to 3,000 or 4,000 would not be a loss." President Lee continued, "If we collect delinquent taxes, there will be more than enough to cover personnel expenses," and instructed, "If necessary, consider an additional budget allocation for the delinquency management team."