Will Lee Jae-myung and Kim Kyung-soo's 'Gadeokdo New Airport Meeting' Take Place?

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] The possibility of a 'Gadeokdo New Airport meeting' between Lee Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi Province, and Kim Kyung-soo, Governor of Gyeongnam Province, has increased.

This is because Governor Kim expressed that he is always welcome to the proposal by Governor Lee to hold an economic forum on basic income at Gadeokdo New Airport.

Gadeokdo New Airport holds symbolic significance as the Southeast region's integrated logistics hub, which Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam are striving to develop as a leading tourism and MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) zone in Northeast Asia.

In an interview with a broadcasting station that day, when the anchor asked, "Governor Kim Kyung-soo, if you were invited, would you consider touring the planned site of Gadeok New Airport together, as Governor Lee Jae-myung posted on SNS that he wants to?" Kim replied, "He is always welcome."

He continued, "I think it is fortunate that Governor Lee acknowledged that this is not just about 'basic income' as I have emphasized so far," adding, "I thank Governor Lee for opening and accepting a space for policy discussions on how to revive our economy overall by addressing various challenges our society faces, not just talking about basic income."

Governor Kim particularly said, "Every time disaster relief funds were distributed, there was debate over whether to give them to all citizens or selectively. Governor Lee strongly advocated this as a basic income theory," and added, "While discussing basic income is appropriate now, I have said in several interviews that it is wrong to treat basic income as if it alone can solve various inequalities in our society or to insist on basic income as the ultimate solution."

Earlier, on the 22nd, Governor Lee posted on Facebook, "What I truly want to emphasize is 'economy first,' and basic income is a sub-concept for economy first," adding, "Besides basic income, I am designing and partially implementing various policies such as basic housing, which supplies large quantities of affordable, high-quality public housing to increase household consumption reduced by housing prices, and basic finance (guaranteed small, long-term low-interest loans) that shares financial gains caused by state power with the sovereign and properly operates monetary and financial policies, thereby establishing economic basic rights for citizens' lives and restoring the declining economy to enable sustainable growth."

He continued, "I send great support and applause to Governor Kim's efforts for 'economy first' aimed at balanced development and creating internal regional growth engines as Governor of Gyeongnam," and evaluated, "These efforts have borne fruit with the passage of the Gadeok New Airport Special Act through the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, and are blossoming through the spread of the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam (Bu-Ul-Gyeong) Megacity discourse."

Furthermore, he expressed, "If invited, I would like to tour the planned site of Gadeok New Airport, a symbol of 'economy first' in the Bu-Ul-Gyeong region, and share my ideas on 'economy first' and Governor Kim's valuable opinions there," adding, "Criticism fills gaps and corrects mistakes, enhancing the completeness and realism of policies," showing his expectations.

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