Interview "A Break from the Past, a Grand Compromise with the Business Community Needed"
"Yoon Seok-yeol? Now Is Not the Age of the Sword but the Age of Digital"
[Asia Economy Reporters Park Cheol-eung and Jeon Jin-young] Lee Kwang-jae, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea who declared his candidacy for the presidential election, stated that "a grand compromise with the business community is necessary." On the premise of breaking away from bad practices such as hereditary succession of management rights, he proposed giving incentives rather than penalties to companies to expand jobs. He expressed a positive stance on the pardon of Lee Jae-yong, Samsung Electronics' vice chairman. Regarding former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, he dismissed by saying, "This is not the era of swords but the era of digital."
In a recent interview with Asia Economy, Lee said, "Until now, we have thought mainly in terms of penalties for the business community, but now we can think about incentives, such as tax cuts for increasing employment," adding, "If you don't engage in unfair internal transactions, you can receive incentives like capital gains tax or inheritance tax benefits."
He also emphasized, "There must now be a grand compromise with the business community as a break from the past. Stop unfair internal transactions and illegal succession of management rights, and make social contributions by creating jobs. Isn't that the way to a normal society?"
He cited Sweden's largest company, the Wallenberg family, as a model. Lee said, "The Wallenberg family has a stronger concentration of economic power than Samsung, but they are accepted because they keep their employment promises and pay a lot of taxes," adding, "We should also create many jobs and pay a lot of taxes. For that, there must be some kind of carrot." He also said, "Now, let's move toward a new capitalism."
However, he believes that if wrongdoing occurs despite incentives, harsher punishments than now should be imposed. Lee said, "After the grand compromise, if someone commits wrongdoing, there should be tremendous penalties, or even stronger measures beyond penalties."
He also argued that the welfare system should be rebuilt through fiscal reform, emphasizing large-scale investment in education.
Lee said, "In Northern Europe, when the budget season comes every year, ministers and the prime minister gather and discuss for several days to decide," adding, "We must fundamentally change the priorities of our budget. If we massively invest money in education such as childcare, South Korea will rise." The idea is to erase the existing method of deciding how much to increase or decrease the budget compared to the previous year by sector and redraw the blueprint entirely.
He continued, "The core of the low birthrate problem is raising children. The state should take responsibility for providing the world's best education until children enter compulsory elementary school."
As various discussions like basic income and Baek Ga-jaemyeong-style debates pour out ahead of the presidential election, Lee believes there is a need to create a bipartisan consultative body to discuss welfare spending. Lee expressed doubt, saying, "They competitively say they will give money, but is that really desirable?" and emphasized again, "Welfare debates are good, but they should be handled in a national-level consultative body. The most important welfare is jobs."
He also proposed a 'startup nation' model for job creation. He said, "We should convert the Korea Development Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea, and Export-Import Bank into startup banks," adding, "In France, about 800,000 startups are created annually. We should definitely go that way to increase jobs."
Regarding former Prosecutor General Yoon, he said, "Jeong Do-jeon also said in the Gyeongguk Daejeon that lawyers should not be at the center of mediation," adding, "Prosecutors deal with past issues, and politics designs the future. This is not the era of swords but the era of digital."
In other words, he pointed out that Yoon is limited to his prosecutorial background. Lee said, "The future is a technological warfare era, so understanding technology is necessary. How to create jobs, provide welfare, conduct stable diplomacy, and unify a divided country are important," adding, "The people will make a cold judgment on whether he will truly help this country."
He proposed shifting the development indicator from Gross Domestic Product (GDP)-centered to happiness indicators. The means is constitutional amendment. Lee said, "Even though Korea's GDP is high, it ranks first in suicide rates (according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)) and has the second-largest wealth gap after the United States," adding, "The abstract concept of happiness should be clearly specified in the constitution in terms of jobs, income, housing, education, healthcare, and community."
He continued, "We should develop a national happiness index so that 'lifelong welfare' becomes the report card for politicians. Then presidents, lawmakers, ministers, and local government heads nationwide will have no choice but to strive to meet that goal."
He is also planning related legislation. Lee said, "I am thinking of names like 'Act on National Happiness Indicators' or 'Act on Lifelong Welfare Indicators,'" adding, "I will pass the law before the presidential election."
He said, "Just as professors are evaluated by papers and soccer players like Son Heung-min are evaluated by goals, in a country where national happiness is the report card for politicians, there will be a strong political revolution," adding, "The pipeline is broken. The water is full, but strangely only the lower part is warm. We must resolve the wealth gap."
Having worked with former President Roh Moo-hyun, he also emphasized gradual reform. Lee said, "If former President Roh's reforms took one step ahead, I will take two steps behind and one step forward," adding, "I will do it one by one while firmly gaining public support. However, just like during the Participatory Government when the Korea-U.S. FTA and Iraq dispatch were done, we must break through what must be done."
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