Lee Nak-yeon: "'With Corona' Policy Shift... Gradual Easing of Social Distancing and 650 Trillion Won Budget Under Review"

Shift to a Crisis Response System Minimizing Fatality Rate and Deaths While Suppressing Confirmed Cases
Need to Consider 650 Trillion Won Budget Next Year Including Compensation for Self-Employed Losses

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Lee Nak-yeon, former leader and presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, stated that a shift in quarantine strategy is necessary under the 'With Corona' system. To this end, he proposed preparing a roadmap for the 'gradual easing' of social distancing and boldly expanding next year's national budget.

Lee Nak-yeon, a presidential primary candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, attended the "COVID-19 Response Meeting with the National Self-Employed Emergency Countermeasures Committee" held on the 23rd at a building in Seocho-gu, Seoul, and delivered a greeting. Photo by the National Assembly Press Photographers Group

On the 23rd, Lee held a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Office and said, "It is now time to consider a paradigm shift in quarantine strategy."

Lee emphasized that "there are concerns that the socioeconomic damage caused by measures to avoid infection is greater than the damage caused by the virus itself," and stressed the need to prepare a policy roadmap suited to the 'With Corona' era, focusing on managing severe cases to reduce the fatality rate rather than suppressing the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases.

To this end, Lee said that mid- to long-term preparations must be implemented for economic recovery in livelihood sectors such as self-employed businesses and to close the academic achievement gap through the resumption of in-person classes at schools. He also emphasized shifting the vaccination priority to complete the second dose for high-risk groups such as the elderly with high fatality rates, establishing a cooperative system with private hospitals instead of relying solely on public hospitals, which account for only 10% of all hospitals, and promptly constructing the National Medical Center and infectious disease specialized hospitals to strengthen their function as control towers.

Along with this, Lee argued that next year's national budget should be proactively expanded and that the era of a 650 trillion won national budget must be boldly opened. He explained that expansionary fiscal policy is necessary to secure a stable budget for loss compensation for self-employed individuals.

In particular, he said that in addition to the vaccine purchase budget of 3.8 trillion won, including the first supplementary budget this year, at least an additional 1.5 trillion won vaccine purchase budget for booster shots (additional vaccinations) should be reflected to transition the quarantine system closer to daily life under the 'With Corona' system and coexist with COVID-19.

Lee said, "Responding to the inequality bill caused by the COVID-19 response is the most urgent task," adding, "'With Corona' ultimately means not only the recovery of daily life but also overcoming COVID-19 inequality together, and I will actively consult with experts and the government to this end."

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