Value context and insight. lkm@koreatimes.co.kr
Hong opposes 'basic income' on efficacy concerns
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki / Korea Times file
By Lee Kyung-min
By Lee Kyung-min
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki expressed clear opposition Monday to “basic income,” an expanded welfare program the ruling party seeks to implement in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government policy priorities, in his view, should be on better protecting vulnerable groups neglected by the social safety net, rather than seeking “populist” alternatives mindful of highly volatile public sentiment ahead of the next presidential election.
“Government spending should always consider efficacy, following a thorough and careful review of how the taxpayers' money would be best used to induce a desired outcome,” Hong said at a forum organized by a private organization at the Korea Press Foundation in Seoul.
Giving money to all “for bread” at the expense of removal of medical treatment benefits for low-income earners, for example, should not be how a country's welfare system works, he stressed.
“Will it be effective to give top-income earners money for bread which they don't need after reducing social benefits for low-income earners who barely meet basic living standards? Giving basic income is a policy that should be formulated alongside existing welfare policies,” he said.
Also outlined at the meeting was his idea of inclusive growth involving four stages ― job creation and wage hikes for low-income earners, and strengthening the social safety net and reducing living expenses for the middle- to lower-middle-income earners.
Creating jobs and increasing wages is needed to give those at the lower end of the economic scale a sense of purpose and dignity, which he views has been mischaracterized as a “socialist” drive due to rapid hikes of the minimum wage over the past three years.
“The government made adjustments following concerns expressed by businesses. Yet strengthening welfare is something we cannot and should not abandon,” he said.