Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dong-yeon warned President Yoon Suk-yeol that approaching social security with market principles would ultimately lead to a serious situation where both welfare and the economy collapse.
On the night of the 1st, Governor Kim posted on his social media service (SNS), stating, "President Yoon Suk-yeol said at the Social Security Strategy Meeting on May 31 that 'social security services themselves should be marketized, industrialized, and a competitive system introduced.' Social security systems primarily aim to protect vulnerable groups that capitalist competitive societies fail to care for, so introducing a competitive system into such a system is absurd," he criticized.
He continued, "If social security services are competed or privatized, the state must answer why it is needed. If market logic expands further into social services, prices will rise, and the groups that need the services most will be excluded, so marketizing social services is a truly dangerous idea," he pointed out.
Furthermore, he said, "While it is true that the service industry should be developed, the industry here refers not to social services but to specialized service industries such as medical, financial, legal, and accounting services," and asserted, "Welfare is not a 'financial drain' but a 'social investment' for sustainable growth."
He also emphasized, "Social services provided based on public assistance and social insurance protect vulnerable groups, provide economic activity opportunities to recipients' families, and create jobs, achieving a triple effect," adding, "Our economy must no longer pursue quantitative growth alone but must follow 'sustainable growth' through proactive social investment and 'quality growth' through building a social safety net."
He lamented, "I already presented these ideas 18 years ago as the person responsible for creating the 'National Vision 2030.' It is very regrettable that our economy seems to be going backward again, something that neither the Lee Myung-bak nor Park Geun-hye administrations did."
In particular, he warned, "In difficult times like now, the state must play a greater role," and "If social security is approached solely with market principles as President Yoon suggested, it will ultimately result in the collapse of both welfare and the economy."
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