Ahn Cheol-soo criticizes Lee over 'temporary' exchange rate remark: 'Low-level self-consolation'

By Jung Seok-jun, The Herald Business

People Power Party lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo on Tuesday criticized President Lee Jae Myung for describing the current high exchange rate as a "temporary phenomenon" at his first-anniversary press conference, saying the remark laid bare the Lee administration's grasp of economic reality.

"The exchange rate is no longer a one-off shock," Ahn wrote on Facebook that day. "Dismissing such a serious situation as 'temporary' is not a policy diagnosis — it is nothing more than low-level self-consolation."

Ahn said the president had offered a flawed explanation by attributing the high exchange rate to a stock market rally. "If profit-taking were the only cause, the exchange rate should fluctuate briefly and then return to its previous level," he said. "But the won's weakness has continued as a sustained trend for months."

He added that framing the rise in the exchange rate as a byproduct of growth amounted to "an obvious evasion of responsibility." He also said it was out of touch with the reality facing retail investors — who were "in tears" — for the president to suggest, on the very day of "Black Monday," that the stock market was still undervalued. The Kospi plunged more than 8 percent and circuit breakers were triggered that day.

Ahn went on to say that a high exchange rate ultimately drives up import prices and squeezes household budgets. "A rising exchange rate means heavier grocery bills and harder lives for the people," he said. He noted that Monday's press conference contained no concrete plan to stabilize the foreign exchange market, which he called the most urgent need of the moment. "The 'eat well' and 'live well' promises Lee Jae Myung made are nowhere to be found, and South Korea is standing at the threshold of a 'live poorly' path," he said.