Dool Kim Yong-ok: "Lee Jae-myung is a person sent by heaven... How else could he have come this far?"

Teacher Kim Yong-ok Dool and Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate.
[Photo by YouTube channel 'DoolTV' capture]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seoyoung Kwon] Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, met with scholar Kim Yong-ok, known as Do-ol, to have a dialogue on rural issues.

On the 1st, Lee appeared on the YouTube channel 'Do-ol TV' and talked with Do-ol for about 30 minutes on topics such as rural basic income and urban waste in rural areas. On this day, Do-ol praised Lee by calling him "a person sent from heaven," saying, "If it were not the will of heaven, how could this person have come this far?"

Do-ol commented, "Our history, since the Park Chung-hee era, has oppressed rural areas under the name of development and used the manpower extracted from rural areas to build industry," adding, "Someone like candidate Lee, who will be responsible for the national administration in the future, must develop rural policies." In response, Lee laughed and said, "Didn't you say I was a person sent from heaven last time? The rumor has spread."

On this day, Lee explained in response to Do-ol's remark, "After seeing the plan proposed by candidate Lee, I thought he was a pioneer. There may be a basic income series, but even if the scope is narrowed, it should be done as a rural resident allowance," saying, "It is about supporting everyone living in rural areas, not just farmers. I think that is right." He added, "If about 300,000 KRW per rural resident is provided, a family of four can live happily with just a little more."

Lee also pointed out, "There is a special account for rural and fishing villages that provides budgets for building roads, bridges, or retaining walls, but in fact, there are many wasteful elements." He continued, "When you add up the support amounts, tax exemptions, and fuel cost exemptions for buying fertilizer or seedlings, it amounts to about 11 to 12 million KRW per farming household," and argued, "Even if only a part of that is converted, it would be easy to provide about 300,000 KRW per farmer."

Regarding the issue of urban waste in rural areas, Lee said, "It is best to impose processing costs in advance when producing products that could become waste and have the public sector handle the processing." Responding to Do-ol's comment that "all the waste generated in cities is being dumped in rural areas," Lee raised his voice, saying, "Companies avoid this because (waste processing costs) become a burden and an immediate factor in price increases, but this mindset must be completely changed."

Then Do-ol requested Lee, saying, "Waste must be handled systematically by the state. It is a national issue," and asked, "Please promise that here." Lee replied, "The waste generation charge can be turned into a fund, and the processing can be done from that fund."

Lee emphasized again, "I will separately announce policies related to agriculture and rural areas, but the scale of direct payments and rural subsidies is too small compared to other countries." He added, "It is desirable to increase (the support) focusing on small-scale farmers," and argued, "If that is done in the form of rural and farmer basic income, satisfaction will increase."

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