People Power Party Floor Leader Jeong Jeomsik Proposes Parliamentary Investigation to Democratic Party: "Turning Stock Market into a Casino"

Five Key Issues to Investigate in the Market Crash
"Strict Accountability Needed for the Loss of National Retirement Funds"

The People Power Party has abruptly proposed a parliamentary investigation to the Democratic Party of Korea in response to the recent record-breaking volatility in the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets. Defining the market turmoil caused by sharp fluctuations as a result of "government policy failures and inappropriate interventions," the party is seeking to hold those responsible for losses by pension funds and the fueling of excessive speculation accountable.

People Power Party Floor Leader Jeong Jeomsik is expressing his position on the passage of the amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act at the National Assembly. Photo by Yonhap News.

On August 2, People Power Party Floor Leader Jeong Jeomsik announced via his Facebook page, "Our stock market is abnormal right now," stressing, "It is time for the National Assembly to take action to swiftly identify the causes and responsibilities behind the current situation and ensure the healthy development of the stock market." He thereby declared his intention to pursue a parliamentary investigation.

Jeong outlined five key areas to be investigated: the introduction process and impact of single-stock leveraged ETFs; government activities that encouraged overheating in the stock market; government-induced negative factors that heightened market uncertainty, such as the controversy over corporate profit distribution and the establishment of the Honam Semiconductor Cluster; trends and appropriateness of domestic stock investments by the National Pension Service and other pension funds over the past year; and the appropriateness of the roles of financial supervisory authorities and economic policy departments.

He strongly criticized the recent abnormal volatility in the Korean stock market. Jeong emphasized, "It is not normal for the KOSPI to plummet by 16.17% in just two days and then surge by 17.91% in a single Friday session." He pointed out, "The magnitude of the KOSPI's decline in July was even greater than during the IMF financial crisis, with circuit breakers and sidecars becoming routine."

He further escalated his criticism by likening the government's policy stance to a "casino gambling table." Jeong asserted, "Even though we should be using the semiconductor boom as an opportunity to grow public assets, the government has driven the stock market from a 'roller KOSPI' to a 'bungee-jump stock exchange.'"

In particular, he focused on the undermining of the National Pension Service and other pension funds as a critical issue. He stressed, "If instability in the stock market has grown due to the government's inappropriate intervention and policy failures, and as a result, the 'retirement funds for the entire nation' such as the National Pension Service have suffered large-scale losses, those responsible must be held strictly accountable." He strongly pressured the ruling party to accept the proposed parliamentary investigation.

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