Koo Yoonchul: "No Private Gain at the Expense of People's Livelihoods"... President Lee: "You Are Doing Well"

Koo Yoonchul, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Economy and Finance, said on the 26th, "No one should use consumer prices as a means of illegal private gain."

In a post uploaded on X (formerly Twitter) the same day, Deputy Prime Minister Koo said, "Creativity, innovation, and new ideas should be the way to make money, and under no circumstances should foul play and irregular practices become a means of making money."

Koo Yuncheol, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Economy and Finance, attended and spoke at the ministers' task force on special management of living costs held at the Government Complex Seoul in Jongno District, Seoul, on Feb. 26, 2026. Photo by Cho Yongjun

He announced a crackdown on irregular and illegal practices that abuse tariff quotas, saying, "We will designate 'items subject to intensive management under tariff quotas' and comprehensively manage the entire process from import to distribution and sales," and adding, "We will make sure that the government's goodwill and efforts do not end up in the pockets of particular businesses, but are clearly passed on to the public."

Deputy Prime Minister Koo added that the government will conduct a full survey of school uniform prices by school, diversify suppliers, and carry out special inspections of private academy tuition fees, stressing that it "will never overlook irregular and illegal practices that disrupt consumer prices affecting people's livelihoods."

President Lee Jaemyung quoted this post on X and encouraged Deputy Prime Minister Koo by saying, "We must not allow anyone to gain by breaking the rules, and we must not allow keeping the rules to result in a loss," and "You are doing a good job."