Lee calls for fair enforcement of traditional market support, farmland probes

President says presidential office reviewing penalties for vote-buying at private economic organizations

President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday. [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday. [Yonhap]

President Lee Jae Myung on Tuesday called for more careful and equitable enforcement of livelihood policies — including support for traditional markets and farmland inspections — and said his office is formally reviewing the introduction of penalties for vote-buying in elections at private economic organizations.

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting he chaired at Cheong Wa Dae, Lee said fairness in policy implementation is paramount. "There is an old saying that poverty can be endured, but injustice cannot," he said.

Lee pointed to gaps in the government's discount support program for traditional markets, noting that the subsidies currently apply to only about 300 markets rather than all of them. When Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Economy and Finance Minister Lee Hyung-il explained that the number had been expanded from 200 last year and that markets also need time to prepare their systems, the president said, "If the program only applies to a small number of large markets because of system requirements, won't the rest feel left out?" and called for improvements.

"From an administrative standpoint, there are reasons why things were set up this way, but on the ground, markets will feel aggrieved, asking why theirs is excluded," he said. "Handling things in aggregate may work from a management perspective, but uneven or inconsistent enforcement will inevitably generate complaints."

Lee also urged flexible enforcement of farmland use inspections. "The point of the farmland probe is to catch people who declare they will farm, buy land, then leave it idle waiting for prices to rise, use it for unrelated purposes, or engage in real estate speculation — not to crack down on elderly farmers who have handed their land to a neighbor because they can no longer work it themselves," he said. "This distinction needs to be clearly explained. Enforcing things blindly and rigidly will distort the intent and prevent the work from getting done."

Lee also sharply criticized corrupt practices in elections at private economic organizations. "There are penalty provisions for exchanging money in agricultural cooperative elections, but for vote-buying in elections at other general economic organizations, there is no way to punish it," he said.

"Vote-buying is a serious offense that must be eradicated, yet because there are no penalty provisions, it happens in plain sight and once the election is over, that is the end of it," Lee said. "The presidential secretariat is reviewing how to correct this."

"When someone becomes chairman of a private economic organization, there are enormous vested interests at stake," Lee said. "If the interests are valuable enough that someone would pay to buy votes, then there is a need to regulate that." However, wary of controversy over excessive government interference in private affairs, he added, "I think it is necessary to limit the scope — through presidential decree or similar means — so that it does not apply too broadly. I hope this can be reviewed with that constraint in mind."


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