"Growing Strategic Industries and Sharing the Fruits Is the Role of the State"
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, made a so-called "Korean version of the Nvidia ownership structure" remark, which has drawn criticism from some political circles as "anti-market." In response, Lee Eon-ju, a Supreme Council member of the Democratic Party, raised her voice, saying, "They are the ones who are truly anti-market."
On the 4th, through Facebook, Lee said, "If the state invests in strategic industries through a sovereign wealth fund, it is normal to secure a corresponding equity stake," and questioned, "Are you saying the government should only provide support for free?"
On the 2nd, Lee Jae-myung stated on the Democratic Party's YouTube broadcast, "If a company like Nvidia emerges in Korea, with 70% owned by the private sector and 30% shared among all citizens, wouldn't a society come where we don't have to rely heavily on taxes?"
In response, Yoo Seung-min, former member of the People Power Party, criticized it as a "nonsensical 'tax exemption for all citizens' plan," and Lee Jun-seok, member of the Reform New Party, said, "The unrealistic policy of 'nationalizing Nvidia to eliminate taxes' must be immediately withdrawn and discarded."
Regarding such criticism, Lee Eon-ju pointed out, "Until now, everyone has been hesitant, and proper investment has not been made in strategic industries like artificial intelligence (AI), which require large-scale capital input," adding, "It is the role of the state to properly invest in and nurture necessary strategic industries and share the fruits. Did they criticize without even understanding the content?"
She continued, "Managing the state like a corporation, strategically investing national resources through selection and concentration to maximize national wealth is the recent trend of the times," and said, "In the U.S. as well, it is ignorant to blindly criticize while stuck in outdated laissez-faire ideology. If someone aspiring to be a leader cannot even grasp this transitional trend in the international order, they are disqualified."
Furthermore, she argued, "In the AI digital transformation era, the world is fiercely competing for AI supremacy centered on the U.S. and China," and stated, "Securing hundreds of thousands of GPUs for AI data centers, national data centers, and computing services is essential, but such large-scale capital procurement has limits if relying solely on public finances and cannot be left entirely to the market. Therefore, strategic capital procurement methods like sovereign wealth funds are useful."
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