President Lee Jae Myung listens to remarks by Han Chang-min, leader of the Social Democratic Party, during a luncheon meeting with leaders of the ruling and opposition parties held at Sangchunjae at the Blue House on the 16th. Reporter Kim Chang-gil

On the 16th, President Lee Jae Myung said regarding the accommodation price-gouging controversy, “We must completely eradicate these vicious abuses that cause great harm to everyone.”

That day, the President shared on X an article about the price-gouging controversy over accommodations in Busan and wrote as follows. He said, “We must root out the vicious abuses that undermine the order of the market and cause great harm to everyone,” adding, “The losses imposed must be far greater than the unjust gains.”

According to the article he shared, ahead of idol group BTS’s concert in Busan in June, accommodation prices across the city have surged.

Earlier, at a Cabinet meeting in September last year, President Lee said that domestic tourism was failing to take off due to price gouging and instructed officials to “establish a system of surcharges or fines that goes beyond administrative guidance.”