President Lee Jae-myung called for tougher penalties against price collusion in commodities such as sugar, flour, school uniforms, and homes during a meeting with senior aides on Thursday. He criticized these practices for undermining market trust and suggested considering permanent expulsion from the market for repeat offenders. The government has been stepping up measures to curb housing prices.
President Lee Jae-myung emphasized stronger responses to price collusion practices in commodities during a meeting with senior aides in Seoul on February 19, 2026. He pointed out that secretly conspiring to fix prices in areas such as sugar, flour, school uniforms, and homes is rampant, describing it as exploiting market dominance to hinder fair competition, undermine market trust, and hamper national economic development.
"Such practices of price fixing that exploit market dominance are a cancerous force that hinders fair competition and undermines trust in the market and hampers national economic development," Lee said.
He added that "permanent expulsion" from the market should be actively considered for those who repeatedly engage in such practices. Penalties should take substantive economic forms, including stronger financial penalties or confiscating gains, rather than merely formal ones like criminal punishment, he stated.
Lee stressed the need to build an "economy for all" that establishes a rational and fair social order and to overcome what he called a "disastrous" real estate-dominated system fueling inequality and despair. He vowed to advance these efforts as the nation's "foremost servant" and called for cooperation from political leaders.
His remarks were seen as reaffirming his commitment to rein in the overheated real estate market. Lee has repeatedly urged owners of multiple homes to sell their properties ahead of the planned expiration of heavy capital gains tax exemptions in May.
(Yonhap)
