President chairs Cabinet meeting, orders preemptive release of government stockpiles; warns hoarding firms face ruin

President Lee Jae-myung speaks during a Cabinet meeting combined with an emergency economic review session at Cheong Wa Dae on Monday. [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae-myung speaks during a Cabinet meeting combined with an emergency economic review session at Cheong Wa Dae on Monday. [Yonhap]

President Lee Jae-myung said Monday that price stability is an indispensable condition for economic growth and national development, calling for swift action to bring consumer prices under control.

"It is clear that without price stability, economic growth, reducing polarization and the country's sustained development are all impossible," Lee said at a Cabinet meeting he chaired at Cheong Wa Dae. "We must put effective countermeasures into operation as quickly as possible." He said the prolonged war in the Middle East was adding to the price burden on the public, and that rising prices would shrink the real incomes of vulnerable groups, widen inequality and drag down economic vitality.

Lee ordered ministries to move quickly on measures to stabilize household grocery prices, including the preemptive release of government stockpiles, stronger discount support and an expansion of tariff-rate quota volumes. He also issued a stern warning against market-distorting behavior. "As I have stressed repeatedly, hoarding and price-fixing collusion must be investigated thoroughly and punished severely — to the point where companies think that getting caught even once would mean going out of business," he said.

He urged all ministries to give their full effort to price management, saying they should treat it as the essential foundation of public welfare.

With the first anniversary of his inauguration two days away, Lee also laid out his policy agenda for the second year of his administration.

"Thanks to the support of the public and the dedication of public servants, we have navigated the crises of the first year well," he said. "From the second year onward, I will focus on spreading the gains seen in key indicators such as exports to small and medium-sized enterprises, small business owners, ordinary citizens and vulnerable groups — across the full breadth of people's livelihoods."

Touching on the development of the AI industry, Lee said the government would press ahead with balanced regional development and a sweeping national land transformation — strategies he described as essential to South Korea's survival — while working to ease polarization and pursue growth that benefits everyone.

He added that by doubling the pace of governance and giving it his full dedication over the next four years, he believed he could accomplish as much as eight years' worth of work in the four years remaining.


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