President Lee Jae-myung demands correction of false claims about Brazilian egg imports
President Lee Jae-myung on the 15th rebutted the claim that "80 billion won was wasted on importing Brazilian eggs," saying it was untrue, and demanded that the claim be corrected. The president said, "Domestic egg prices soared this summer and supply ran short, while existing exporters such as Asian countries and the United States also lacked supply, so a small quantity of eggs was imported from Brazil on a trial basis." He emphasized, "If consumer prices soar due to supply shortages, supplying more expensive foreign goods domestically at lower prices is a perfectly normal measure."
The president explained, "The purchase price of Brazilian eggs was about 178 won each, which was the market price, though substantial ancillary costs were incurred from the long-distance air transport across the globe." According to his explanation, Brazilian eggs accounted for only 0.8% of total imports, with total import costs of about 1.6 billion won, as a trial measure to diversify import sources.
He pointed out, "Even though the relevant materials were distributed factually and the local Brazilian export price could easily be verified, spreading false claims that '80 billion won was wasted and eggs were bought at inflated prices to grant favors for the summit' and damaging the reputations of policy officials is not desirable."
This was not the first time such criticism had been raised. At a Cabinet meeting on the 13th, President Lee asked Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Song Mi-ryung, "How are you responding to the false information being spread about Brazilian eggs?" Minister Song also posted on X to rebut the claim that 80 billion won had been wasted on Brazilian egg imports.
On the 10th, People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk claimed on Facebook, "The Brazilian egg import process began right after the February summit between President Lee Jae-myung and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and 1.12 million Brazilian eggs were imported right after the president's visit to Brazil in July," adding, "Eggs cost 464 won each from the United States and 305 won from Thailand, while Brazilian eggs cost 1,300 won."
