Opposition unites to blast Lee government over Kospi shock: 'The price of forced market manipulation'

Opposition politicians lined up Friday to criticize the Lee Jae Myung government's economic and stock market policies after the Kospi plunged 6 percent from the previous session, briefly falling below the 5,000 mark during intraday trading. Critics said the government had "recklessly intervened in the stock market, amplifying uncertainty."

People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok appeared Thursday on the Maeil Business Newspaper's YouTube program "Lee Dong-jae's News Cabinet" and said the Kospi's sharp decline was "partly a result of the US midterm election outcome, but also the result of the government forcibly intervening in the stock market despite various sources of volatility." Jang said the government "should have been better prepared for scenarios like the midterm results, but it fell short."

PPP policy committee chairperson Lim Yi-ja also criticized the government at a floor strategy meeting at the National Assembly on the same day. "The 'Kospi 9,000' built on forced share-price inflation and a temporary semiconductor boom was ultimately an illusion — a bubble," Lim said. "The moment that bubble burst, the market was cut in half, and the assets of the 14 million retail investors who sweated and invested for their futures are disappearing."

Assembly member Ahn Cheol-soo directed his criticism at President Lee Jae Myung, saying, "The US election — its schedule and its outcome — was a foreseeable variable. What exactly did the government prepare for?" Ahn called on Lee to act immediately. "President Lee has said communication is his lifeline, and has even mentioned the idea of impromptu live broadcasts," Ahn said. "I urge him to go live right now — an emergency broadcast — and announce concrete emergency economic measures."

Former PPP lawmaker Yoo Seung-min also sharply criticized the government's share-price support policies. In a Facebook post, Yoo called out President Lee and former Cheong Wa Dae policy chief Kim Yong-beom, asking, "Why are you staying silent on the day the Kospi 5,000 line has collapsed?"

"The government's share-price support policy inflated investors' expectations far beyond reason," Yoo said. "The first step toward normalizing the stock market is to investigate and hold legally accountable those who recklessly talked up stocks, stoked expectations, drove people to take out loans to invest everything they had, and squandered the national pension."

Reform Party lawmaker Lee Jun-seok expressed concern over the government's fiscal policy direction. In a Facebook post, Lee said, "When the Kospi started rising early this year, I warned that the Lee Jae Myung government should not get drunk on beginner's luck — and I was widely mocked for it." He added, "A perfect storm is now approaching, and it will arrive before the ruling and opposition parties are done with their political feuding."

Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon took aim at the national pension fund's expanded investment in domestic equities. "Kospi 5,000 was a number the Lee Jae Myung government set as a state policy goal," Han said. "A number you declare and then fail to defend is worse than one you never reached — because it is soaked in the tears of the people."

Han also demanded that the president personally account for the national pension fund's heavy concentration in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. "We are now seeing the price of gambling with the people's retirement savings," Han said.