Lee Jae-myung's Campaign Committee Captivated by MZ Generation

Full-Scale Targeting of 2030, Women, and Youth
4 Additional AI and Data Experts
Land Tax Controversy "Decision After Public Deliberation"

[Asia Economy Reporters Oh Ju-yeon and Jeon Jin-young] On the 1st, the election campaign committee of Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, additionally announced the recruitment of talented individuals from the 2030 generation summarized as women, youth, and science. This is an extension of the move made the previous day to recruit Jo Dong-yeon, a female space industry expert born in 1982 and a professor in the Department of Military Studies at Seokyeong University, who graduated from the Korea Military Academy, as a co-chairman of the campaign committee, positioning her as a 'two-top' alongside party leader Song Young-gil.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On this day, the Democratic Party campaign committee additionally announced four external figures: Kim Yoon-ki (20), a sophomore AI developer; Kim Yoon-yi (38), a data expert; Song Min-ryeong (37), a neuroscientist; and Choi Ye-rim (35), a deep learning-based artificial intelligence researcher. They will serve as campaign committee members, proposing policies to be reflected in Lee’s pledges. Notably, among the five individuals announced after Lee took full control of reform, four are women. Their ages are all within the 2030 generation. This is interpreted as a pre-reflection of Lee Jae-myung’s unique will for ‘reform and innovation’ in the new faces of the campaign committee. It comes just ten days after calling for reform to quickly respond to public demands, moving away from the ‘heavy organization’ centered on veteran lawmakers.

On the same day, Baek Hye-ryun, head of the National Talent Committee, explained, "Rather than recruiting prominent figures, we aimed to discover young innovators who have been contemplating ways to contribute to society in their respective fields." The Democratic Party campaign committee plans to open an online recommendation platform called ‘National Talent Recommended by the People’ on the 6th to receive direct recommendations of experts from the public. This is seen as an effort to create a system that can respond swiftly to public demands.

Lee appeared on a broadcast that morning and said the core problem of the Democratic Party is a ‘lack of agility.’ Responding to criticism that the younger generation calls the Democratic Party a ‘kkondae party’ (old-fashioned or authoritarian party), he said, "We have become a giant party with 180 seats, but the speed of responding to public sentiment has slowed and become dull, and we have not achieved the expected results." Referring to his achievements during his time as mayor of Seongnam, he said, "If I had been from the opposition party, I would have received tremendous support," showing some distance from the current government. Regarding youth issues, he said, "The task is to seriously listen to their stories, create feasible measures, and persuade them that we will guarantee a better life."

On the real estate issue, he stated, "Until now, housing policy has focused on suppressing demand, but we will increase the weight of supply expansion policies as much as demand suppression and prepare for a large-scale supply." Regarding the high public opposition to the introduction of a ‘land ownership tax’ to finance basic income, he reiterated his previous reserved stance, saying, "We cannot implement policies that burden the people without consensus," emphasizing that it will not be pushed unilaterally. While some criticize this as ‘changing pledges,’ Lee explained, "If you understand the content accurately, there is no reason to oppose it, but if the public agrees through a public discussion process, we will proceed; if not, we will not."