The policy is only his latest far-left economic scheme
Former Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myung, the leftist presidential candidate for the ruling Democratic Party (DP), said that he will ban public servants from having any properties that aren’t “essential for living.”
Real estate is a contentious topic in South Korea, and Lee’s latest comments reveal that he is taking a hard-left – almost totalitarian – stance on the issue after winning the DP nomination.
On October 29, Lee argued that “unearned income from the real estate market is what is ruining this country and I promise that I will prevent anyone from suffering from harm due to someone’s unfair unearned revenue.” He said he will establish measures to force senior public officials to sell their real estate properties that are not essential for their living. He added that he will consider adopting a blind trust for such properties or selling them forcibly on a consignment basis. His comments were made while he was visiting a construction project site for a new park near Seongnam, where he served as mayor before becoming the governor of Gyeonggi.
“Even if the rules are not made, I will pursue policies to exclude people from promotion or hiring if they have real estate properties that are not essential for living,” Lee said. He said he will apply this standard to public officials applying for a certain grade level, but he did not specify how he will categorize someone as a senior public official.
Reporters asked Lee whether these measures are excessive. Lee said, “A person who tries to make money through real estate should become a real estate businessperson instead of a public official.”
Lee was met with strong backlash from the public after he said that he wants to put a cap on the total number of restaurants in the country on October 27. The following day, he backpedaled, saying, “I just talked about the need to think about it.”
However, he changed his stance again on October 29. “There is a cap for the number of licenses to operate taxis, number of doctors, and even number of students per university,” Lee argued. He said that a quota on the number of restaurants is similar to limiting the total number of students available to attend a college at the same time.
Lee’s plan is to set a quota on the number of restaurants operating in the country and have the government control issuing new licenses to people according to the number of restaurants that went out of business. He said he will help restaurant owners who close their businesses receive around 2 million won ($1,707) to 3 million won ($2,561) per person as a premium from an applicant hoping to open a restaurant.
Many experts pointed out that this policy is aimed at attracting more votes from current restaurant owners. This is because current restaurant owners can sell their operating license to someone instead of just going out of business empty-handed.
Presidential candidates from the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) all released statements attacking Lee over his restaurant cap plan.
Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol wrote on Facebook that this is a “totalitarian idea.” He argued that Lee is trying to have the government design people’s daily lives.
Rep. Hong Joon-pyo called it an “unconstitutional idea.” Hong pointed out the irony that Lee, who is trying to destroy the so-called establishment, is trying to make current restaurant owners a new establishment power bloc in society. This is because they will be able to take advantage of being paid for a premium on their operating license.
Former Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong said, “We need to first put a quota on the total amount of nonsense coming from Lee Jae-myung.”
Major newspapers in South Korea ran editorials criticizing Lee’s proposal for its unconstitutionality and the possibility that it will create more inequality. The JoongAng Ilbo newspaper’s editorial reads, “If the government introduces a system to restrict their entry into one field, existing restaurant owners could benefit, but it discriminates against new entrants.” The editorial added that “the way Lee thinks is a serious challenge to democracy and the market economy, not to mention a critical violation of our Constitution, which guarantees the freedom to choose an occupation.”
The Chosun Ilbo newspaper’s editorial argued that it is hard to believe that such comments came from the top presidential candidate from the ruling party. The newspaper pointed out the fact that the reason why many people are opening new restaurants is because of the weak job market caused by the Moon Jae-in administration’s failed economic policies. “How can the government prevent people who are economically vulnerable from running small businesses, including restaurants, which they believe is the most realistic option to make a living when considering their situation,” the editorial argued.
The Chosun Ilbo criticized Lee Jae-myung’s other populist policies for being unrealistic. One of Lee’s key campaign promises is universal basic income that would provide every citizen with 80,000 won ($68) per month. This would cost 52 trillion won ($44.4 billion) every year. Lee argued that he will gradually increase the amount to around 500,000 won ($427) per person a month. This would amount to 300 trillion won ($256.1 billion), which is about half the size of the government’s annual budget. Lee argued that he will adopt a basic housing system as well. This plan aims to provide 1 million housing units to low and middle-income people so that they can live there for 30 years while paying lower rent than private housing. This would also cost around 300 trillion won. The Chosun Ilbo editorial asked, “How is he going to make such amount of money?”
Meanwhile, a new poll showed that the presidential race would be very close. According to a Korea Research survey released on October 29, Hong Joon-pyo received 41.9 percent of support, while Lee Jae-myung received 35.6 percent in a hypothetical two-way race. Lee was ahead against Hong by 39.9 percent to 39.3 percent on October 14, but the results have changed.
In another hypothetical race survey, Lee Jae-myung had 37.5 percent versus Yoon Seok-yeol’s 35.4 percent. This was the first time that Lee received more support than Yoon in a poll conducted by Korea Research.
Despite Lee’s far-left agenda, he is proving to be a competitive candidate. This is a worrying trend for the future of the Republic of Korea.
