Former Reform Party lawmaker criticizes Lee Jae Myung's social media activity on Facebook

Former Reform Party lawmaker Cho Eung-cheon. [Yonhap]
Former Reform Party lawmaker Cho Eung-cheon. [Yonhap]

Former Reform Party lawmaker Cho Eung-cheon sarcastically called President Lee Jae Myung "a president with an eye for detail" on Thursday, after Lee vowed to track down and recoup illicit profits made by ticket scalpers.

In a Facebook post that day, Cho said Lee appeared to believe his approval rating had "plummeted because citizens couldn't get BTS concert tickets due to scalpers' schemes," taking a swipe at Lee's activity on X, formerly Twitter, which Cho said seemed out of step with the political turmoil and public sentiment surrounding the various allegations against Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won.

Cho added with a sneer that since the backdrop message at a press conference scheduled for Friday reads "I will pay closer attention to the will and lives of the people," he was confident Lee would "clear the public's frustration by announcing measures to stamp out ticket scalping." He concluded: "No matter how I look at it, the president's passion for detail seems genuine."

Earlier that day, Lee shared on X a news article about the Gyeonggi Northern Police Agency's recent arrest and referral for prosecution of a scalper in his 30s, writing that he would "track down ticket scalping — which robs people of their rightful chance to attend events — to the very end and recoup every penny of illicit profit."

Lee said the revised Performance Act, which took effect Aug. 28, was already showing results, noting that a scalper had been caught reselling tickets to idol concerts, foreign artist performances and sporting events at up to 30 times the face value, pocketing more than 1 billion won in the process.

"We will make it unmistakably clear that those who profit illegally from scalping will pay an even greater price," Lee said, adding his thanks to the police officers involved for their efforts.


jshan@heraldcorp.com