Opposition Launches Full-Scale Attack Over Kim Yong-beom's Resignation, Calls for Probe and Special Counsel

[Financial News] After former Cheong Wa Dae policy chief Kim Yong-beom resigned, the PPP on the 1st called it a "smoke screen" and urged President Lee Jae Myung to change the direction of state affairs. As Kim is believed to have led the single-stock leveraged ETF policy blamed for the so-called "roller KOSPI," the PPP said it would push for a parliamentary investigation and even a special counsel probe.
PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok said on social media that "Kim Yong-beom, the presidential chief of staff for policy at Cheong Wa Dae, has resigned. He was driven out by the public."
Jang added that the single-stock leveraged ETF was "Kim Yong-beom's creation," arguing that "the stock market has turned into a gambling den, people's bank accounts have been drained, and only securities firms have made money."
He went on to say, "Kim Yong-beom is just the tail; the body is likely President Lee Jae Myung. Cutting off the tail does not make the body disappear." He also claimed that public losses had reached 54 trillion won and said, "We should at least launch a special counsel probe."
After finishing a floor strategy meeting at the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, floor leader Jeong Jeom-sig told reporters that "the remaining two of the three people behind the leveraged ETF issue, Lee Eok-won, chairperson of the Financial Services Commission, and Lee Chan-jin, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, should also be dismissed." He added that, apart from Kim's resignation, a parliamentary investigation and other fact-finding measures were needed into the rushed introduction of leveraged ETFs.
On the timing of Kim's resignation, he said, "After the announcement of the second Cabinet reshuffle, public opinion worsened and the backlash grew over the nomination of Kim Seung-won as the 'minister who would drop charges,' so this may have been a smoke bomb." He added that it amounted to an early admission of failure in the reshuffle.
Bae Jun-young, the opposition floor secretary on the National Assembly's Finance, Economy and Planning Committee, said, "Kim Yong-beom's resignation, as the chief architect of the collapse of the national economy, is only fitting, but it comes too late." He added, "A successor will have to be appointed, but if the president does not change, none of it will matter."
The PPP has already prepared a draft request for a parliamentary investigation into leveraged ETFs. Since the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) opposes the probe, the party is also considering submitting it on its own. Choi Su-jin, the floor spokesperson, added that "the question is when to submit the request for a parliamentary investigation into leveraged ETFs; the draft is already complete."
[email protected] Lee Hae-ram Reporter