President Lee: "Price-fixing collusion is a grave crime against the public... We will mobilize every legal measure"

According to Financial News, President Lee Jae-myung of South Korea wrote on his social networking service (SNS) account on the 6th, amid a surge in international oil prices and price hikes in the refining industry, that "price-fixing collusion is a grave crime against the public" and warned, "They will soon learn how heavy the price will be."
Lee Jae-myung added in a post on X (formerly Twitter), "It seems some companies still do not realize that the barbaric era is over, when they could rake in huge profits through illegal acts, inflict pain on the public, and then sweep everything under the rug through collusion with government officials and politicians."
He continued, "For unscrupulous companies that break the law and disrupt the order of the national economy, we will make sure they learn the simple truth that you reap what you sow," adding, "By mobilizing every legal measure, we will ensure that abnormal practices in the economic sphere are brought back to normal."
Along with his post, Lee Jae-myung shared a news article titled "Refining industry raises prices by 140 won in five days, thrown into shock by president's warning."
The article reported that when Lee Jae-myung raised the possibility of reviewing a price ceiling system during the extraordinary Cabinet meeting the previous day, effectively signaling state intervention in the market, reactions in the industry diverged. Oil refining companies were said to be feeling the pressure and watching the situation nervously, while the gas station industry welcomed the move in the hope that it would ease pressure on wholesale prices.
west@fnnews.com Seong Seok-woo Reporter