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The KOSPI index is displayed at the dealing room of Hana Bank's headquarters in Jung District, Seoul, on Nov. 6, 2026, as the benchmark index plunged more than 6% but narrowly held above the 5,000-point mark. The KOSPI closed at 5,059.69, down 324.11 points, or 6.02%, from the previous session, while the KOSDAQ fell 34.14 points, or 5.03%, to 644.27. /Yonhap

South Korea's main opposition People Power Party (PPP) has stepped up its criticism of the government and ruling party following the recent stock market plunge.

Accusing the administration of taking credit for rising stock prices while blaming external factors when markets fall, the PPP called on President Lee Jae Myung to apologize and hold his economic policymakers accountable.

According to political sources Sunday, the PPP argued that the government should take responsibility for the sharp market decline, given that it had promoted the KOSPI's rise to 5,000 as an achievement of the administration and encouraged people to invest.

The party criticized the government for using stock market performance in its political messaging and election campaigns to stimulate investor sentiment while neglecting risk management and investor protection.

In a statement, PPP chief spokesperson Choi Bo-yoon said, "The president held up the KOSPI's 5,000-point milestone as 'a return to normality,' using the number to encourage investment. The Democratic Party even told voters to choose candidate No. 1 if looking at their stock accounts made them happy."

"The index became an election slogan, and investment turned into speculation," she said.

Choi also criticized what she described as the administration's tendency to claim credit when the market rises and shift blame when it falls.

"After turning the stock index into a political tool — taking credit when it rises and blaming others when it falls — not a single person is willing to take responsibility," she said.

"The president should apologize to the public and hold the economic officials who designed this index-driven political strategy accountable."

Choi Soo-jin, the PPP's chief deputy floor spokesperson, took aim at the government's stock market stimulus measures and its push to introduce single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

"For all this time, the Lee Jae Myung administration has presented rising stock prices as proof of its economic competence, confidently promising a KOSPI of 5,000 or even 6,000," she said.

"The presidential office and financial authorities pushed ahead with artificial market stimulus measures and leveraged investment products, turning the market into a giant gambling arena. Yet when the market crashed, they either remained silent as though it were someone else's problem or focused solely on evading responsibility," she added.

Some PPP lawmakers also proposed turning moves in the United States to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) into an opportunity to attract investment to South Korea.

In a Facebook post, lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo said, "Rather than simply watching moves to regulate data centers in the United States, the government must immediately develop a strategy to attract global AI data centers."

"We need to bring to South Korea the AI data center investments of global companies that are slowing down their investment plans in the United States," he added.

                                                                                                           Kim Dong-wook