Yoon Seok-yeol: "The 2nd Supplementary Budget Should Not Be Populist Spending... Provide Strong Support to Affected Groups"

'Yoon Seok-yeol Listens' Fourth Visit
Visits Korean Set Meal Restaurant in Yongsan-gu, Seoul

Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol (right) is visiting a Korean set meal restaurant in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, meeting with a self-employed couple. (Provided by Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol's campaign)

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol stated on the 12th, "The second supplementary budget currently being discussed in the National Assembly should not be a populist handout but must be used to provide sufficient compensation for losses to small business owners and self-employed individuals, and to support the affected groups thoroughly and without gaps."

On the same day, during the fourth session of his on-site visit series "Yoon Seok-yeol Listens," Yoon visited a baekban (set meal) restaurant located in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, to hear the voices of self-employed business owners directly.

A self-employed couple running the restaurant expressed to former Prosecutor General Yoon, "Due to COVID-19, the number of military customers around here has already decreased significantly, and we are even more worried about the future." In the metropolitan area, where social distancing guidelines have been raised to level 4, restrictions on business hours and the number of customers follow.

The couple also criticized the Moon Jae-in administration's income-led growth policy. They said, "Before the minimum wage increase, the daily labor cost per person was 60,000 to 70,000 won, but now it exceeds 100,000 won. Since we have three employees, the monthly labor cost alone reaches 10 million won, and with sales declining due to COVID-19, it is impossible to sustain the business."

After hearing the difficulties of the self-employed, former Prosecutor General Yoon said, "I recently visited several downtown stores, and the streets were empty with many closed shops. Due to the failure of the income-led growth and COVID-19 quarantine policies, small business owners and the self-employed are pushed to the brink everywhere, filled only with their hollow sighs and cries." He then emphasized that the 33 trillion won allocated in the second supplementary budget must be used for the affected groups, including the self-employed.

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