Lee Jae-myung: "Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki, Focus on Administration for the People, Not Politics"

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Lee Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi Province, urged Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki to stop 'politics' and provide disaster relief funds to all citizens nationwide.

On the 15th, Lee posted on Facebook titled "Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki, stop politics and do administration," saying, "Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki said that if the government does not repay 2 trillion won in national bonds, it could affect the country's credit rating," and began by saying, "(Hearing this) I could hardly believe my ears."

He continued, "In 2020, South Korea's fiscal deficit was only minus 3.7% of GDP," emphasizing, "Compared to most countries such as the UK at minus 13.3% and Japan at minus 14.3%, which exceeded minus 10%, (our country) is very low."

In particular, he pointed out the Ministry of Economy and Finance's conservative administration, saying, "Our national debt compared to GDP is only about 42.2%, slightly more than one-third of the OECD average of 110.0%," and "Due to minimizing expenditures during this COVID-19 crisis, that gap has widened even more."

Lee further stated, "Is it correct to say that 2 trillion won, which is only 0.1% of our GDP, officially affects the credit rating of South Korea, which has entered the ranks of advanced countries?" and delivered a direct blow, saying, "This is something that would make a sleeping dog laugh out loud."

He also argued, "The core of credit ratings lies in the size of the country's economy, political and social stability," and "That is why other countries have maintained active fiscal expansion policies for the sake of stabilizing people's livelihoods despite increasing deficits."

Furthermore, he criticized, "If you are the economic chief responsible for managing the government's finances, you should worry first about the struggling economy of ordinary people and their livelihoods due to COVID-19, rather than pretending to be frugal by blaming international credit rating agencies," and called the opposition to nationwide disaster relief funds due to lack of fiscal capacity "beyond common sense."

Lee questioned, "Isn't 250,000 won to 80% of the people or 200,000 won to all citizens the same amount just by simple arithmetic?" and sharpened his words, saying, "The Deputy Prime Minister's position is not a place to insist on his own political beliefs, and the enforcement of political beliefs is the role of elected officials directly entrusted by the people."

He also directly attacked, saying, "The person who actually involves 'political decisions' in fiscal management is Deputy Prime Minister Hong himself," and "Supporting and stubbornly agreeing with the opposition party and some presidential candidates' selective payment claims with irrelevant reasons is exactly the 'politics' (Deputy Prime Minister Hong is currently doing)."

Lee further warned, "If the state does not borrow, the people must borrow," and "Personal debt, which must be bankrupt, is more dangerous than manageable national debt of an appropriate scale, not external debt."

He added, "What is urgent now is to recover the economy and soothe people's livelihoods," and advised, "Deputy Prime Minister Hong, stop your stubbornness and provide disaster relief funds to all citizens nationwide according to the first agreement between the ruling and opposition parties and the ruling party's policy."

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