Approval Rating Rebound for Lee Nak-yeon, Lee Jae-myung's Basic Income Under Fire: "Equal Distribution Deepens Inequality"

"Too Much Funding Required
Detailed Explanation and Verification
Necessary for Oneself as Well"
Step-by-Step Criticism of Payment Plan

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Former leader of the Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Nak-yeon has launched consecutive attacks on Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung's basic income proposal. He says "verification is necessary," and as Lee Nak-yeon's approval rating has recently been on the rise, he appears to be raising his voice to assert his presence.

On the 28th, Lee Nak-yeon appeared on MBC Radio's 'Choi Kyung-young's Strongest Current Affairs' and said, "Basic income requires too much funding, so (Governor Lee) needs to provide a concrete explanation and undergo verification. That is necessary for himself as well."

On that day, Lee Nak-yeon sharply criticized Governor Lee's basic income payment plan point by point. He pointed out, "Even if 500,000 won is given to each citizen per month, more than half of the annual national budget of 556 trillion won would be required," adding, "This means taxes would have to be nearly doubled compared to now." He also said, "Distributing the same amount equally cannot alleviate inequality and may even deepen it," and emphasized, "These two issues are the biggest problems, and there must be verification and explanation regarding them."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

This is the second time Lee Nak-yeon has criticized Governor Lee's basic income. Considering that he had previously used a more indirect and polite manner of expression regarding current issues, this marks a significant change. At a press conference for the publication of his interview collection on the 27th, he also said about former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, "I feel like he is hiding something, and I don't think his attitude is confident."

According to a public opinion poll released by Realmeter on the same day, Lee Nak-yeon's approval rating rebounded to 11.1% after three months. This is an increase of 2.1 percentage points compared to the April survey (9.0%). He ranks second among ruling party presidential candidates following Governor Lee, and third overall including both ruling and opposition parties. The poll was conducted nationwide from the 24th to 25th among 2,004 people aged 18 and over, with a sampling error of ±2.2 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For detailed survey outlines and results, please refer to the Realmeter or the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission websites.

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