President Lee Cancels Meeting...Social Distribution of Excess Profits to Be Reviewed Further

The meeting of senior presidential aides, which President Lee Jae-myung had been scheduled to preside over on the 20th, was canceled. The meeting was expected to address the method of social distribution of corporate excess profits, but reports indicate that the need for additional discussions was raised.

The Office of the President announced to the media on the same day, "Today's scheduled senior aides meeting will not be held due to changes in the agenda and schedule."

President Lee Jae-myung is speaking at the government department briefing on the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries held at the State Guesthouse on the 16th. 2026.7.16 Yonhap News Agency

The senior aides meeting is a forum where the President receives briefings from aides at the Presidential Office on state affairs and discusses policy directions. It is usually held on Thursdays, but this week, it was scheduled for Monday to accommodate the "Real Estate Policy Debate" scheduled for Thursday.

However, on the morning of the 20th, Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik and the aides agreed in a meeting that further discussion was needed. President Lee also accepted Chief Kang's opinion, leading to the postponement of the meeting.

Debate continues regarding the definition and application of excess profits. Although the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Employment and Labor have been holding discussions, there is still no public consensus on alternatives such as social solidarity wages.

However, the Presidential Office has stated that this is unrelated to the current domestic stock market situation. On the 20th, both the KOSPI and KOSDAQ fell by more than 5% during trading hours, triggering selling sidecar measures.

It remains unclear whether the canceled senior aides meeting will be held on the originally planned date of the 23rd. The Presidential Office has also not decided whether the issues of corporate excess profits and social distribution will be discussed again.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.