President Lee Jae-myung emphasized on Sunday that market volatility from the deteriorating Middle East situation must be minimized, stating that Korea's 208-day oil reserve "means there would be no problem with daily energy use even if imports were completely restricted."
Lee made the remarks at an emergency Cabinet meeting at the Blue House after receiving a briefing from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on crude oil volumes and strategic reserve release plans.
"Having seven months' worth of reserves is the highest level globally," Lee said. "People think that if imports are disrupted, daily use will be immediately affected, but that is not true."
He added, "Even if imports are completely cut off, there would be no problem for seven months," and instructed officials to "ensure there are no shortages in the market as a crisis preparedness measure, even though using domestic reserves appears unlikely."
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy reported that immediately available volumes total approximately 157 million barrels, combining 76.48 million barrels of government reserves with 73.83 million barrels held by private industry. Including an additional 35 million barrels that can be secured within the next three months, Korea has response capacity for approximately 208 days.
While calling for minimized market volatility, Lee also ordered officials to "promptly designate realistic maximum prices by region and by fuel type."
"Price gouging on fuel appears impossible to crack down on currently, but quickly review the regulatory framework," Lee said. "It doesn't seem right to leave only fuel unregulated like this."
Lee pointed out that sudden spikes in consumer prices based on expectations of future increases amount to "exploiting the national difficulties our citizens face for personal gain."
"Our citizens have such high civic awareness that they don't even hoard," he said. "Doesn't this violate the basic principles of community?"
Lee noted that "citizens feel in their daily lives that prices rise very fast and by a lot, but fall slowly and by little—there's a perception that something is wrong."
He assessed that "while there are Strait of Hormuz blockade concerns and international oil price increases, these have not yet had a substantial domestic impact."
Lee questioned whether there are "systems for business suspensions, fines, or penalty surcharges against acts of unfairly and excessively raising prices for unjust profits."
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Koo Yoon-cheol reported that the government is reviewing maximum price designations for petroleum products under the Petroleum Business Act while also planning Fair Trade Commission investigations into potential collusion among refiners.
"If hoarding occurs, corrective measures or even criminal punishment are possible," Koo said. "We will thoroughly implement all available administrative measures to ensure that profiteering from crisis situations is never tolerated."
In response, Lee characterized the sharp rise in gasoline and other petroleum product prices as "price gouging."
"This has been happening continuously in the past, and we've let it go thinking it was inevitable, but it shouldn't be that way," Lee said. "When a community crisis arrives, we must prevent people from exploiting it to harm others while thinking 'I need to do well for myself, I need to accumulate money from this opportunity.'"
He ordered officials to "promptly designate realistic maximum prices."
