"Communal Negative Account... Passing the Burden to Future Generations"
"Enough Money to Build an Airport, Opportunity Cost Lost"
Lee Junseok, leader of the Reform New Party, defined the government's 13 trillion won-scale consumer coupon distribution policy as a "failure of the state" and announced that he refused to receive it. He argued that "the national account is ultimately the people's account," emphasizing that structural reform and future investment should take precedence over populism.
Lee Junseok, leader of the Reform New Party, defined the government's 13 trillion won consumer coupon distribution policy as a "failure of the state" and announced that he refused to accept it. Yonhap News
On September 15, in a lengthy post on his Facebook page, Lee made it clear that he "did not accept" the consumer coupon policy. He stated, "Those who received the coupons did nothing wrong," but added, "As a politician, I wanted to clearly express my opposition to a populist policy that could only raise prices and ultimately leave greater scars on ordinary people."
Lee drew a line, saying, "This is a policy that can never be justified by saying, 'The situation is too urgent right now,' or 'We need at least this much.'" He stressed that the 13 trillion won budget for the consumer coupon project "is equivalent to the combined annual tuition of all universities in Korea, enough to build a new Incheon Airport or Gadeokdo New Airport and still have money left over, or to construct several new subway lines."
He assessed that if the only result of this opportunity cost is "short-term consumption and rising prices, then it is a failure of the state."
He went on to compare the government's response to "a doctor who endlessly prescribes painkillers to a patient with a serious illness," arguing, "That means giving up on treatment." In particular, he criticized, "If the President of Korea chooses to hand out coupons funded by debt instead of pension reform, health insurance reform, and investment for the future, that is populism that abandons the nation's future."
He added, "Any parent wants to give their child plenty of allowance, but for the sake of a greater future, they would suppress that impulse and contribute to their child's education. I believe this is not just the story of my family." He continued, "There is no difference between a household account and the national account. For Korea, which has already completed its period of high growth, a negative national account is simply a communal account that shifts the burden onto future generations."
Lee also directly targeted President Lee Jaemyung. He said, "President Lee Jaemyung boasts about investing 500 trillion won overseas, yet treats 13 trillion won as pocket change domestically," warning, "If fiscal soundness collapses, Korea will be pushed to the edge of a cliff."
Finally, he pledged, "To protect the future of Korea, we must choose reform and investment, no matter how painful, rather than the sweet temptation of immediate coupons. I will take that path."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
