Oh Se-hoon: "Is Lee Jae-myung a devil if the media criticizes him?"

Regarding the "Geumtu Tax," a "Reevaluation from the Starting Point"

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon criticized Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, for calling the media "the prosecution's pet dog," saying, "If you side with them, you are a guardian angel; if you criticize, are you a demon?"

On the 17th, Mayor Oh stated on Facebook, "Recently, following Lee Jae-myung's remark calling the media the prosecution's pet dog, a first-term Democratic Party lawmaker attacked the media using violent language such as 'giregi' (derogatory term for journalists) and 'seizure.' Media coverage of investigations into opposition party leaders should be guaranteed as a freedom for the public's basic right to know."

Earlier, on the 14th, Lee appeared at court and said to the media, "Aren't you receiving information like the prosecution's pet dog and then working hard to distort and manipulate it?" In response, Democratic Party lawmaker Yang Moon-seok defended Lee, saying, "The expression 'prosecution's pet dog' is an insult to pet dogs. It would be better to just call them 'giregi' from now on."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Mayor Oh said, "No matter how much the party is centered around Lee Jae-myung alone, intimidation toward the media, which serves as the eyes and ears of the people, is unacceptable," adding, "Seeing Lee Jae-myung and the Democratic Party's dangerous view of the media, I feel a crisis in South Korean democracy. They must sincerely apologize to the public and the media even now."

Mayor Oh also urged a fundamental reexamination of the financial investment income tax (Geumtu-se) scheduled to be implemented next year. The Geumtu-se is a tax that imposes 20% (25% on income exceeding 300 million KRW) on income exceeding certain amounts (50 million KRW for stocks, 2.5 million KRW for others) from financial investments such as stocks, bonds, funds, and derivatives, regardless of major shareholder status.

In another post on Facebook that day, Mayor Oh argued, "The Geumtu-se is disadvantageous only to small retail investors and does not help resolve the Korea discount issue, among other controversies. The implementation should be postponed and reconsidered from the beginning."

Regarding the Geumtu-se, Mayor Oh explained the need to approach it from the perspective of youth. He said, "Unlike the parent generation who endured hardships when young but accumulated assets along with Korea's rapid growth and own apartments, today's youth find it difficult to afford even one apartment after saving their salaries for 20 to 30 years. That is why many are rushing into coins, stocks, and real estate leveraging. The government and political circles must give them hope."

He added, "The Individual Savings Account (ISA), which young people and low-income groups join to build assets, should be exempt from the Geumtu-se, and the non-taxable limits and payment limits for other taxes should be significantly expanded."