Jeong Sye-gyun to Lee Jae-myung: "Basic income is not the primary pledge; since the Grand Canal is impossible, it seems shifted to the Four Major Rivers Project"

Former Prime Minister and Democratic Party presidential primary candidate Jeong Se-gyun is answering reporters' questions after announcing the appointment of Lee Kwang-jae and Kim Young-joo as co-chairs of the campaign headquarters at his campaign office located in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 13th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] On the 18th, Jeong Se-gyun, a presidential candidate from the ruling party and former Prime Minister, criticized Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung's policy announcement press conference, saying, "I could understand the intention to emphasize that basic income is not the number one pledge, but it reminded me of the past when the Grand Canal plan was abandoned and shifted to the Four Major Rivers Project."

He pointed out the retreat from the basic income pledge by referring to former President Lee Myung-bak's 2007 flagship pledge of the "Korean Peninsula Grand Canal," which was abandoned and replaced by a similar "Four Major Rivers Restoration Project."

Through Facebook on the same day, former Prime Minister Jeong said, "Basic income, which took a line as a means to alleviate polarization and revitalize the economy, looked neither confident nor natural."

He emphasized, "Candidate Lee Jae-myung's basic income, which uniformly distributes a small amount to everyone, is not only powerless in resolving polarization but also does not greatly help economic revitalization. Taking money away from vulnerable groups who desperately need help and giving it to the upper class is a waste of the national budget that makes those in difficulty even more difficult."

Regarding Governor Lee's theory of transformative fair growth, he evaluated, "He talked about fairness and growth, but unfortunately, it was abstract and lacked concrete content, which was disappointing."

Regarding Lee's statement, "We will stop the downward trend of economic growth rate and shift to sustained growth with an upward trend," he rebutted, "The Korean economy is not currently on a downward trend. Despite the COVID-19 situation, it is trending upward at a world-class level. If there is a regretful point, it is the deepening of asset inequality and the lack of quality jobs. This is why concrete job policies that fundamentally alleviate asset inequality are needed, not trivial cash payment policies like basic income."