An "Youth Basic Income Should Be Used for Housing" ... Lee "Housing Issues Should Be Resolved Separately"

Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party, Sim Sang-jung of the Justice Party, Ahn Cheol-soo of the People Party, and Yoon Seok-youl of the People Power Party, presidential candidates (from left), are rehearsing before the start of the 2022 presidential candidate invitation debate hosted by the Korea Journalists Association and jointly organized by six broadcasting companies at the Maeil Business Newspaper Media Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the 11th. Photo by the National Assembly Press Photographers Group

[Asia Economy Reporter Bae Kyunghwan] Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the People’s Party, showed differing views on the youth basic income.

On the 11th, during the '2nd TV Debate' hosted by the Korea Journalists Association, Candidate Ahn asked Candidate Lee, "Wouldn't it be a better plan to invest the entire 7 trillion won budget for youth basic income in securing housing for young people?" In response, Candidate Lee said, "The housing issue must be resolved separately. We need to create a separate opportunity to prioritize purchasing 30% of the total supply of 3.11 million houses or to receive them as basic housing."

However, Candidate Ahn pointed out, "The basic housing currently costs about 300 trillion won, which is about half of our country's budget. Where can we possibly find such an enormous amount of money?"