President Lee's ISA Review Draws Contrasting Reactions: Ruling Party Says "Welcome," Opposition Criticizes "Sloppy Governance"

Eonju Lee: "We must not lose trust any further"
Heungi Lee: "Will do our best to pass the relevant bill"
People Power Party: "Cowardly evasion of responsibility"

After President Lee Jaemyung ordered a review of the government's reform plan for Individual Savings Accounts (ISA) and the bill to prevent stock price suppression, lawmakers from the ruling party who had previously criticized these policies welcomed the move on August 8, saying that they would seek improvements during the National Assembly's deliberation process. In contrast, the People Power Party continued its criticism, denouncing it as "sloppy governance" and urging an immediate halt.

Members of the Democratic Party of Korea, Eonju Lee, Soyoung Lee, and Heungi Lee, expressed their approval of the president's order to review the policies via Facebook on this day. They had previously criticized the government's ISA reform plan and openly called for a reconsideration.

Assemblywoman Eonju Lee wrote on Facebook, "We must keep our original promise to recommend ISA accounts to numerous individual investors for long-term investment," adding, "Trust should not be lost any further." She went on to say, "I am relieved that the President has, even now, recognized the issues and taken steps to correct them, and I actively welcome this."

Assemblywoman Soyoung Lee also shared a news article on Facebook about President Lee's instruction to review the stock price suppression prevention bill, commenting, "We will set things right. The Ministry of Economy and Finance needs to wake up."

Assemblyman Heungi Lee stated, "Assemblywoman Soyoung Lee and I will do our best to ensure the passage of the stock price suppression prevention bill that we jointly sponsored at the National Assembly," pledging, "We will become the 'KOSDAQ Protector' and the 'Retail Investor Protector' for Korea."

Park Seonghun, a member of the People Power Party, questioned during the National Assembly Planning and Finance Committee's audit on October 24, 2024, held at the Bank of Korea Daegu Gyeongbuk Headquarters. The audit covered the Bank of Korea Daegu Gyeongbuk Headquarters and Pohang Headquarters, Daegu Regional Tax Office, Daegu Main Customs Office, Daegu Procurement Office, and the Northeast Regional Statistics Office. Photo by Yonhap News.

On the other hand, the People Power Party maintained its criticism. Park Sunghoon, chief spokesperson, said in a commentary on this day, "This is cowardly evasion of responsibility," demanding, "Stop this slapdash governance that only tries to fix things after pushing out announcements and then correcting them when the public pushes back."

He added, "President Lee, upon ordering the review, reprimanded his aides by asking, 'Why did you proceed without proper reporting?' When the public is outraged, they blame the policy maker; when problems arise, they say it was a reporting issue."

He continued, "If there hadn't been such strong public resistance, wouldn't the government have simply pushed through the hasty reform plan? Ultimately, it has become clear that neither the President, the Blue House, nor the government properly vetted the potential impact and side effects of the policy before announcing it."

He further criticized, "They failed to filter out the shock of reducing ISA benefits, the impact of taxing non-resident single-home owners on the rental market, and the adverse effects of the stock price suppression prevention system. The public and the market are left battered by this pattern of 'announce first, reverse later' amateurism."

He emphasized, "This incident is not just an issue of tax reform, but rather exposes the true face of what I call 'three-deficit government': the inability to properly make policies, the incompetence to verify them in advance, and the lack of courage to take responsibility for failure."

Assemblyman Ahn Cheolsoo also posted on Facebook that day, "The carryover of the ISA limit and its extension must be fully restored. Those responsible for agreeing to the deterioration must also be replaced," saying, "How can people who do not understand the lives of young people or ordinary citizens claim the right to impose taxes or change the law?"

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