Yoo Seung-min: "President Moon and Ruling Party Are Ghosts at Spending Money... They Will Pay the Price"

"Malicious Populism Surges as Election Nears"
Directed at Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myung as a "Money-Eating Dinosaur"
"How to Cover Losses of Basic Housing?" Criticism

Former People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Seung-min / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] Former People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Seung-min criticized the government and ruling party's fiscal management. Yoo warned, "They have abandoned the principles of national projects, distracted by elections," and "They will pay a heavy price."

On the 2nd, Yoo wrote on his Facebook, "As the election approaches, the malignant populism of President Moon Jae-in and the Democratic Party presidential candidates is rampant," expressing his concerns.

He continued, "Their common trait is being experts at spending money," and pointed out, "The president and the Democratic Party passed the Gadeokdo New Airport Special Act, which costs 28 trillion won, skipping feasibility studies and site appropriateness investigations."

He then criticized, "If in the future, demands arise from places like Daegu and Gwangju to keep existing urban airports like Gimhae Airport as they are and build new airports on the outskirts fully funded by the national budget, the government will have no response."

He also continued his criticism toward Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung.

Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myung is delivering the opening address at the 'Gyeonggi Basic Housing Conference' held at the Suwon Convention Center in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do on the morning of the 25th of last month. / Photo by Yonhap News

Yoo said, "Governor Lee Jae-myung's 'Basic Series' is a money-eating dinosaur," and criticized, "Even with the current welfare system, enormous funds will be needed in the future, so if you add basic income on top of existing welfare, does that money fall from the sky?"

Earlier, on the 27th of last month, Governor Lee claimed on Facebook, "Housing in the 3rd phase new towns in Gyeonggi Province should be supplied as 'basic housing,' not lottery sales, unless there are special reasons."

Basic housing is a plan to provide long-term rental housing for over 30 years at rents cheaper than market prices to non-homeowners regardless of income or assets.

Governor Lee pointed out the cause of the domestic housing problem as "an era of national lottery apartment applications where people of all ages wander nationwide," and as a solution, explained, "Public land apartments should not be sold as lottery units for speculation but should be held by the public and supplied as basic housing so that citizens can live comfortably for life."

Regarding this, Yoo criticized, "We are currently short of funds even to supply public rental housing for low-income groups to live with dignity," and questioned, "How will they bear the enormous losses of supplying basic housing at low rents for 30 years to the middle class as well?"

He added, "Perhaps because they themselves think the fiscal deficit and national debt are severe, they talk about tax increases in words, but the possibility of them raising taxes before the election is zero," and criticized, "Moreover, tax increases must first achieve national consensus, and raising taxes during an economic crisis like now is not the right choice."