South Korea to Implement Oil Price Caps This Week

South Korea's presidential office announced Monday that the government will implement a maximum price system for petroleum products within this week.

Kim Yong-beom, chief policy secretary at the presidential office, said the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will "expedite procedures including gazette notifications to implement the price cap system within this week based on the Petroleum Business Act."

"The ministry will separately announce detailed provisions of the maximum price system," Kim said during a briefing following an emergency economic review meeting on the Middle East situation held at the presidential office.

Kim said President Lee Jae-myung chaired an emergency review meeting Monday morning where officials discussed causes and countermeasures for sharp increases in domestic petroleum product prices following developments in the Middle East, despite no arrival of newly purchased oil supplies.

"The government is paying particular attention to the asymmetry where gas stations under refiners raise prices quickly but lower them slowly," Kim said.

He added that the meeting addressed specific implementation measures for the price cap system to prevent abnormal pricing of consumer products and ensure price predictability. President Lee ordered officials to proceed with implementation as quickly as possible, according to Kim.