Ahn Cheol-soo: "Sorry for Failing to Prevent the Triple Hardships of the Youth Generation... The Fault of the Older Generation"

"Political Establishment Undermines the Universal Values of Our Society"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, stated on the 17th, “The older generation, complacent with unprecedented achievements in industrialization and democratization, failed to prepare for the future. To make matters worse, the entrenched political powers are even undermining the universal values of our society,” adding, “As a result, our youth generation has fallen into a triple hardship of loss of fairness, deprivation of opportunities, and inheriting future debt.”

At the ‘4th Korea Youth Day Organizing Committee Launch Ceremony’ held at the National Assembly Members’ Office Building that day, Ahn said, “All three hardships faced by the youth generation are the fault of the older generation,” and apologized, saying, “I am sorry for not being able to prevent this.”

Ahn pointed out, “Due to incidents such as the Cho Kuk scandal, academic fraud involving children of prestigious university professors, the Incheon International Airport Corporation incident, the Yoon Mee-hyang case, and the recent Seoul city issues, some youths have had their opportunities taken away by someone, some have had to go through processes of discrimination or reverse discrimination, and many have witnessed the overturning of the justice they once knew.”

Ahn said, “The economy must be fully functional for young people to enter as confident economic agents, but as the economy stagnates and declines, the space for youth is gradually shrinking,” adding, “The reckless income-led growth policy and the real estate policy failures with 22 consecutive at-bats without a hit have accelerated economic failure, yet there is no recognition that the direction is wrong, and stubbornness without intention to fix it makes improvement unlikely.”

Ahn stated, “The public servant pension ran a deficit of 2.2 trillion won last year, and by 2028, the deficit will more than double to 5.1 trillion won. The military pension also had a deficit of 1.6 trillion won last year, which will increase to 2.4 trillion won by 2028, continuing to widen,” adding, “To cover these deficits, the people’s tax money is being poured in, and debt is rapidly increasing.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.