'Basic Income Debate' Lee Jae-myung "Take Down Your Signboard First" vs Yoon Hee-sook "Focus on Making Proper Broth"

Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung visited the annex of Daegu City Hall on the 4th to attend a business agreement ceremony for the Digital Innovation ICT (Information and Communication Technology) Convergence New Industry. He is speaking at the agreement ceremony.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Soyoung] Lee Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi Province, confronted the People Power Party, which criticized his core policy of basic income, saying, "The signboard says Seolleongtang restaurant, but what they sell is pork soup, so customers are confused."

On the 7th, Lee posted on his Facebook with the title "If you want to criticize a Seolleongtang restaurant, please take down the 'Seolleongtang specialty' sign first," expressing this view.

He wrote, "The state actively supports individuals to lead stable and free lives through basic income in preparation for the Fourth Industrial Revolution era," and introduced this as "Article 1, Clause 1 of the People Power Party's platform, not the Basic Income Party or the Democratic Party."

He continued, "However, key figures of the People Power Party criticize basic income with extreme language such as parasites and fraud, and contrary to the universality of basic income, they exclude high-income taxpayers and selectively propose 'Safe Income' and 'Fair Income' that give hundreds of thousands to millions of won more to those who do not work among low-income earners," he criticized.

He then pointed out, "The signboard says Seolleongtang restaurant, but what they sell is pork soup, so customers are confused," adding, "When appearances and reality, words and actions differ, political distrust arises."

Lee further said, "I understand the jealousy of the original Seolleongtang restaurant that does well in business and opening a 'Seolleongtang specialty' restaurant right in front, but if you sell pork soup while criticizing Seolleongtang, wouldn't it be polite to take down the 'Seolleongtang specialty' sign first?" he criticized.

In response, Yoon Hee-sook, a People Power Party lawmaker known as the 'Lee Jae-myung sniper' who has been engaging in daily basic income debates with Lee, launched a counterattack.

Yoon Hee-sook, a member of the People Power Party, is questioning Kang Shin-wook, the Commissioner of the Korea National Statistical Office, during the National Assembly's Public Accounts Committee's audit of the Korea Customs Service, Public Procurement Service, and Korea National Statistical Office held on the morning of October 14 last year at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Yoon posted on her Facebook with the title, "Governor Lee Jae-myung, if you have time to stare at someone else's signboard, focus on properly making Seolleongtang broth without using Prima," directly hitting back.

She said, "It seems that the more you speak, the more tangled it gets, so now Governor Lee is looking up at the People Power Party's signboard," and rebutted, "However, the People Power Party's basic income is not about giving the same amount to all citizens like Governor Lee's universal basic income (UBI: Universal Basic Income)."

She added, "The People Power Party's basic income is a means to ensure that all citizens can maintain basic dignity in life," summarizing it as "a broader concept that includes effective ways to help the vulnerable in our society with limited resources."

She continued, "Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon's Safe Income and former Representative Yoo Seung-min's Fair Income all share this spirit, and I expect candidates running for the presidential election to do so as well. There is a high chance that through the presidential primary, their ideas will be discarded and merged to produce a more refined basic income plan," she stated.

Yoon sharply said, "But Governor, please stop confusing things with nonsense and deception, quietly reflect on your own thoughts, and organize them."

Meanwhile, criticism from the political circle is intensifying over Lee's 'basic income' policy, who is considered the top next presidential candidate in the ruling party. Along with criticism from opposition figures such as former People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Seung-min and Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong, former Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun has also joined in.