Lee Jae-myung's Core Advisory Group 'Sadang-dong Team'... Expanding Its Scope as a Think Tank

Professors and Former Ministers Lead
Strengthening Expert 'Advisory Functions'
Developing Presidential Pledges and Core Agendas
Think Tank Launch on 18th
Reorganizing and Expanding Scope

Lee Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi Province and a presidential primary candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, is making the 5th policy announcement related to basic finance through a virtual press conference at a building in Yeouido, Seoul on the 10th. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] The so-called ‘Sadang-dong Team,’ a core policy advisory organization of Lee Jae-myung’s presidential campaign, is reorganizing and preparing for full-scale election operations in conjunction with the launch ceremony of a think tank next week. In addition to Lee’s trademark ‘Basic Series,’ the ‘Sadang-dong Team’ plans to further subdivide major national visions and policy units, strengthening the organization of subcommittees, research groups, and advisory panels.

According to Lee Jae-myung’s campaign on the 13th, the large-scale think tank ‘Policy Forum to Change the World 2022’ (tentative name), which will be launched on the 18th, is a reorganized and expanded group of the open campaign policy advisory organization known as the ‘Sadang-dong Team.’ They have set up an office near Sadang-dong, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, and have been performing expert policy advisory functions centered on academics and former ministers, hence being called the ‘Sadang-dong Team’ within the campaign.

Key figures include Lee Han-joo, head of the Gyeonggi Research Institute, who has overseen Lee’s policy pledges since the 2017 party primary, and Lee Jong-seok, former Minister of Unification from the Roh Moo-hyun administration. The team also consists of prominent figures such as Kang Nam-hoon, professor of economics at Hanshin University, Lee Jung-woo, professor emeritus at Kyungpook National University, Park Soon-sung, former head of the Democratic Policy Research Institute, as well as Moon Jung-in, former presidential special advisor on unification, diplomacy, and security, and former Ministers of Unification Lim Dong-won and Chung Se-hyun.

The ‘Sadang-dong Team’ plans to strengthen its advisory functions for Lee’s presidential run by covering the overall national philosophy and proposing new policy visions. In addition to the ‘Basic Series’?which includes basic income, housing, and finance, overseen by Policy Director Yoon Hu-duk?the team will lead agenda setting in various fields such as diplomacy, security, industry, society, economy, growth strategy, and regional balance. Special attention will be given to policy development targeting the 20s and 30s youth demographic and moderate-leaning supporters, groups that Lee has been relatively weak in appealing to.

A representative from Lee Jae-myung’s campaign said, “We will continuously develop practical and detailed strategies through active communication with the advisory group to show how the livelihood reform tasks can bring visible changes through Lee’s policy pledges.”

Meanwhile, on the same day, Lee held a meeting at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Office and announced the 100% payment of the third disaster relief fund. Lee stated, “Policies are not absolute truths, so there can be pros and cons and support and opposition, but that difference is the reason for local autonomy,” adding, “Since it is possible to provide universal payments to all residents with the province’s surplus tax revenue, there is no financial burden.” Previously, the government decided to selectively provide disaster relief funds to the bottom 88% income bracket, but Lee had advocated for the necessity of universal payments independently within Gyeonggi Province.

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