Na Kyung-won calls Lee's corporate investment drive 'extortion show,' demands probe

People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won on Tuesday criticized President Lee Jae Myung over his announcement the previous day that companies would invest about 1,500 trillion won ($973 billion) across three mega-projects — semiconductors, physical AI and AI data centers — calling it "President Lee Jae Myung's forced extortion show targeting corporate chiefs."

In a Facebook post Tuesday, Na said that "forcing investment through sheer power, without fundamental structural reform or regulatory overhaul, is like strapping sandbags on companies, tying their hands and feet, and telling them to run a marathon." She called for a parliamentary investigation and, if necessary, a special prosecutor inquiry.

Na questioned whether the government had "brandished the weapons of punitive regulations, tax audits and state power to pry open corporate wallets," asserting that companies were being coerced into investing.

She also referenced the so-called "Yellow Envelope Law," which marked its 100th day in effect recently, saying it had thrown labor relations into chaos by subjecting even company cafeteria and security operations to primary-contractor bargaining obligations. Companies trying to comply with the Serious Accidents Punishment Act by looking after subcontracted workers' safety, she said, find themselves trapped in a dilemma — being classified as employers under the Yellow Envelope Law and forced into collective bargaining.

Na added that companies were "besieged on all sides" by demands from entrenched unions for performance bonuses, retirement-age extensions without pay cuts, minimum wages among the highest in Asia, and punitive inheritance taxes. "Pushing companies to build factories in specific regions while ignoring the need to improve the business environment is not investment encouragement — it is intimidation and extortion backed by power," she said.

Na said coerced investment of this kind would erode corporate competitiveness and eliminate the capacity to create new jobs. Rather than presenting corporate chiefs with a bill behind closed doors at Cheong Wa Dae, she said, the government should work with the National Assembly to first discuss ways to remove the shackles on business.

She stressed that "the truth behind forced investment that could harm the national economy must be thoroughly verified before the public." A parliamentary investigation and special prosecutor should examine, she added, whether the 1,500 trillion won in investment represented voluntary and rational corporate decision-making, or whether abuse of state power and some hidden arrangement were at work.