The Democratic Party of Korea is hosting a series of discussions related to the basic society, gearing up for an ‘all-out support’ for the signature policy of party leader Lee Jae-myung. With the possibility of President Yoon Suk-yeol's impeachment and early elections left open, there is a mood to strengthen the basic society policy line while considering traditional support bases.
The Democratic Party's Social Economy Committee and the Democratic Research Institute held a 'Universal Basic Society Continuous Listening Session' at the National Assembly member's hall on the afternoon of the 27th. The session was held under the theme 'Tasks of social economy for realizing a basic society.'
Attendees of the session included representatives from social cooperatives, social corporations, and activist organizations. The Democratic Party promised at this meeting to actively promote the base society policy, represented by basic income and basic services, at the party level.
Lee Han-joo, head of the Democratic Research Institute, said, 'The Democratic Party considers it a duty to actively guarantee basic rights and adopted the basic society as a principle during the party convention last August,' and noted, 'Given the dire situation in local economies and urban regeneration, the party intends to provide support promptly through a supplementary budget.'
Heo Young, the opposition party's member of the National Assembly's Special Budget and Accounts Committee, emphasized, 'When I first started politics, I pledged to enact a basic income law as part of my general election promises and even established a basic income research forum,' adding, 'I will do my utmost to support this legislatively and budgetarily as we move towards a basic society.'
Lee has taken basic income, implemented during his tenure as mayor of Seongnam, as the cornerstone of his basic society policies. He has directly chaired the Democratic Party's Basic Society Committee and recently discussed 'Artificial Intelligence (AI) Basic Society' with the world-renowned scholar Yuval Harari.
The Democratic Party is broadly supporting the basic society policy at the party level. The National Assembly's basic society forum, with significant participation from opposition lawmakers, hosted a seminar on 'Basic Society and Economic Growth' on the 25th and proposed a livelihood recovery support fund that includes the provision of local currency. To facilitate the seminar, Kang Nam-hoon, the head of the Basic Society Corporation and one of Lee's mentors, directly addressed the attendees.
The basic society principle is likely to appear in discussions for the supplementary budget proposal that both ruling and opposition parties will address in the future. The Democratic Party's self-proposed supplementary budget announced on the 13th of last month included 13.1 trillion won allocated for 'livelihood recovery consumption coupons,' similar to the livelihood recovery support fund. Recently, the Democratic Party has also urged the government to prepare a supplementary budget proposal and review the livelihood recovery consumption coupons as part of the basic society policy.
Jin Sung-jun, chair of the Democratic Party's Policy Committee, noted during the policy adjustment meeting that 'The recovery of the domestic economy, which has rapidly frozen due to martial law, airplane accidents, and wildfires, is truly urgent. I also urge the active review of the consumption promotion four-package, including livelihood recovery consumption coupons,' and added, 'We will do our utmost through the livelihood supplementary budget to restore daily life.'