▲ President Lee Jae Myung attends a meeting with his senior secretaries at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Feb. 5, 2026. (Yonhap)

Lee-economy

Lee calls for tougher measures to curb price fixing

By Yi Wonju

SEOUL, Feb. 5 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Jae Myung instructed his aides Thursday to mobilize all available measures to stabilize prices and prevent cases in which companies raise prices by abusing monopolistic power.

Lee made the remark during a meeting with his senior secretaries and aides, as the prosecution recently indicted company executives accused of price fixing involving daily necessities, such as flour, sugar and electricity.

"I urge you to mobilize all state power to correct the practices that force high prices on the public at all costs," Lee said. "Even if the economic indicators improve, people will struggle to feel an improvement in their lives if the prices of daily necessities remain unstable."

Lee also suggested creating a task force to oversee prices intensively over a certain period, pointing to structural problems in the distribution costs of agricultural goods, including fruits and vegetables.

Prosecutors launched the price-fixing investigation after Lee ordered the government to take a more active response to rising prices of everyday goods during a Cabinet meeting in September last year.

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