Kim Dongyeon: "Overcoming the Crisis with a 50 Trillion Won Supplementary Budget"
Kim Kyungsoo: "Export, Domestic Demand, and SMEs Must Grow Together"
In the midst of a severe economic crisis, marked by negative growth in the first quarter, Lee Jaemyung, a Democratic Party presidential primary candidate and former party leader, proposed structural solutions to address the crisis. He emphasized the need to find new engines of growth in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), renewable energy, and culture.
Lee identified the causes of economic hardship by stating, "The situation has deteriorated as the economic growth rate has declined." He explained, "The main reason for stagnating or declining economic growth is, in fact, polarization, disparity, and inequality. The resources and opportunities in our society are concentrated on one side, which prevents us from achieving efficiency." He further noted, "International organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) suggest that the fair distribution of resources and outcomes is ultimately the path to sustainable growth." He stressed the importance of "alleviating polarization and distributing opportunities and outcomes as fairly as possible."
However, regarding artificially resolving polarization, he said, "There is no solution," and added, "Forcibly dividing what people have is called communism." Instead, he stated, "We need to find new areas for growth. AI, renewable energy, and the cultural sector are areas where we have strengths. By developing and advancing new industrial sectors, we can distribute opportunities and outcomes fairly, which will help reduce disparities and make sustainable growth possible to some extent."
Kim Dongyeon, the Democratic Party presidential primary candidate and Governor of Gyeonggi Province, focused on short-term measures to address the immediate crisis. Kim stated, "I will establish an economic war room and an emergency economic countermeasures meeting chaired by the president. By creating an emergency economic countermeasures meeting where the government and businesses jointly tackle the crisis, I will form a forum where businesses, workers, and the government can reach a grand social compromise to lay the foundation for an economic leap forward."
Regarding fiscal measures, he said, "I will pursue a supplementary budget of about 50 trillion won." He added, "The current 12 trillion won supplementary budget submitted by the government is far too small. Through the supplementary budget, I will do everything possible to support struggling self-employed people, small business owners, and small and medium-sized enterprises, while also making significant investments in our future growth engines." He also introduced his negotiation strategy with U.S. President Trump, stating, "Rather than a package deal all at once, I will use the so-called salami tactic of breaking negotiations into stages to achieve favorable results."
Kim Kyungsoo, former Governor of South Gyeongsang Province, presented both short- and long-term solutions. In the short term, Kim emphasized, "It is most important to urgently formulate a supplementary budget." He said, "The supplementary budget should be at least 30 trillion won, and if possible, up to 50 trillion won, to support the self-employed and revive the livelihoods of those facing economic hardship." For the long term, he stated, "We need to change South Korea's growth model." He explained, "South Korea's growth has been centered on exports, the Seoul metropolitan area, large corporations, and manufacturing. Now, we need a new growth model that combines exports with domestic demand, enables large corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises, and venture startups to grow together, and merges manufacturing with the service sector." He added, "This direction should include transitioning to AI and digital, driving transformation across society, and fostering talent for the climate economy and green transition. These three major growth axes are essential to address the structural economic crisis."
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