President Lee: "Kim Yongbeom Meant 'Excess Tax Revenue'... National Dividend from Excess Profits Is Fake News"

President Lee Jae-myung stated on the 13th that "Fake news for the purpose of manipulating public opinion is unacceptable" in response to the controversy over the proposal for a "national dividend from excess profits in artificial intelligence (AI)" made by Kim Yong-bum, policy chief at the Blue House.

On this day, President Lee wrote on his X account (formerly Twitter), "What Policy Chief Kim Yong-bum said was that the government is reviewing a plan to distribute to citizens the excess tax revenue generated from surplus profits in the AI sector." He made this clarification.

President Lee Jae-myung is speaking at the Cabinet meeting combined with the emergency economic inspection meeting held at the Blue House on May 12, 2026. Photo by Yonhap News

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President Lee continued, "Some media outlets edited this statement and spread malicious fake news, claiming that Policy Chief Kim argued for distributing corporate excess profits to the public. In response, Policy Chief Kim denied this, clarifying that he was referring to distributing excess tax revenue—instead of making an excuse, he kindly provided an explanation. Even though related reports have already been published, I wonder why such malicious reports are still being made."

He further pointed out, "It must be remembered that political criticism or condemnation that is not based on facts undermines democracy."

On May 11, Policy Chief Kim posted on his Facebook page, "The benefits of the AI infrastructure era are not solely the result of specific companies," and proposed the idea of a "national dividend system" utilizing excess tax revenue. As the KOSPI fell by 2.29% compared to the previous trading day and the market reacted sensitively, criticism erupted, particularly from opposition parties.

In response, the Blue House clarified the previous day, stating, "The content posted by Policy Chief Kim is his personal opinion and is unrelated to any internal discussions or reviews within the Blue House."