Lee Nak-yeon Throws a Check at Lee Jae-myung, "Coffee in the Morning and Beer in the Evening Rather Than Cider" (Comprehensive)

Basic Income, "Even if 500,000 Won is given monthly, it amounts to 300 Trillion Won a year... More than Half of the Budget"
No Funding Plan Design Means 'Fiction'
Also Mentions Moon Administration's Real Estate Policy... Failure Cause "Failed to Predict Demand"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] "People often demand many straightforward remarks, but rather than straightforwardness, drinking coffee in the morning and having a beer in the evening is better. It is best to provide the necessary beverage at the right time."

Former Democratic Party leader Lee Nak-yeon made this remark, subtly checking Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung, who gained attention for his 'straightforward speech' style.

On the 26th, at a presidential candidate debate hosted by the Korea Newspaper and Broadcasting Editors Association held at the Press Center on Sejong-daero, Seoul, former leader Lee pointed out flaws in Governor Lee’s basic income theory, saying, "An explanation is needed from someone who claims that (basic income) is possible without replacing welfare or raising taxes."

Former leader Lee directly criticized, "Even if 500,000 won is given per person monthly, it would require over 300 trillion won annually, which is more than half of the budget," and added, "How to do this without replacing welfare or raising taxes, there are analyses that it does not help alleviate polarization but rather the opposite." He further said, "Distributing the same amount of money to both the rich and the poor will not help alleviate polarization," and pointed out, "There must be explanations and answers for this. There is still a lot to verify and many tasks remain." When asked if public opinion gathering and designing funding plans are necessary, he replied, "If that is not there, it is fiction."

Lee Nak-yeon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, is delivering a keynote speech at the presidential candidate debate hosted by the Korea Newspaper Editors Association held at the Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul on the 26th. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

In the Q&A about virtual currency, he summoned opposition presidential candidate and Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong. Former leader Lee said, "We need to bring virtual currency exchanges into the institutional framework and guide exchanges to invest in stablecoins," adding, "It is necessary to monitor them within the institutional framework." When asked if he would consider investing directly in virtual currency, he said, "I have no experience investing in stocks. The governor said he invested 1 million won but it dropped to 800,000 won and blamed the government, but someone at his level should not say that." Governor Won recently shared his experience of losing money four days after investing directly in virtual currency and urged the government to prepare measures to prevent damage.

Regarding real estate, former leader Lee admitted the government's failure in real estate policy and blamed himself, saying, "We failed to predict demand." He analyzed the real estate missteps, saying, "The government's real estate measures so far have mostly aimed at stabilizing the real estate market, so the focus was on 'demand suppression' and 'strict crackdown on speculation.'"

Repeating the word "prediction" several times, former leader Lee continued with strong criticism and reflection, saying, "Anyone can see the policy was wrong." He especially mentioned overlooking the increase in single-person households.

Former leader Lee said, "In Seoul, the number of households is increasing due to the rise in single-person households," and added, "There are also young people moving from non-metropolitan areas to the metropolitan area, but we failed to sufficiently predict this increase." He further stated, "The timing of population outflow toward the metropolitan area exactly coincides with the rise in real estate prices," and said, "We failed to prepare and predict this. We must prepare for the increase in single-person households going forward."

He also mentioned excessive benefits for housing rental business operators, saying, "There have been cases where policies missed the mark despite good intentions." He emphasized, "Benefits for rental business operators were used to protect tenants, but the result was that properties were withheld from the market and the benefits became a tax haven. The situation where one person owns 760 properties is clearly a policy failure. It must be corrected even now."

Regarding easing real estate regulations such as the comprehensive real estate tax, he said, "Final discussions between the party and government or within the party will take place soon," and added, "There is a need to raise the threshold for easing property tax." He also said, "Regarding the comprehensive real estate tax, considering tax justice and tax resistance due to a sharp increase in tax burden, it is necessary to carefully review how much the actual burden has increased and choose a compromise measure such as buffering the speed of official land price realization."