President Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday directed his government to introduce a strict price control system, which will allot staple items to officials and hold them responsible for keeping their prices under target ceilings.

The instruction came a day after Lee said during his New Year’s policy address that the government will prioritize easing the economic burden of low-income families with a focus on stabilizing consumer prices.

“There should be a strict policy to keep the prices of major products, particularly agricultural and livestock products, from going higher than certain price levels,” Lee was quoted by his spokesperson as saying during a Cabinet meeting.

“I have never seen anybody taking responsibility for price increases. What is most crucial for the livelihood of low-income families are consumer prices. We should stake our jobs as public servants on addressing these price issues.”

Lee also told the Cabinet members to regularly disclose the consumer price trends to the public so as to ease their concerns.

In his New Year’s address, Lee said that his government will make efforts to curb the inflation of consumer prices within the low 3 percent range. He also said that the government will stabilize the markets for rental and long-term lease housing units and create more jobs.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)