Former Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Moon-soo, a preliminary candidate for the People Power Party in the 21st presidential election, and lawmaker Na Kyung-won met with Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on the 16th and stated that they would reflect the city's representative policy of "stepping stone income" in their election pledges. It is expected to be promoted as a welfare policy to counter the "basic income" proposed by former Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Jae-myung.
On this day, former Minister Kim and lawmaker Na held breakfast meetings and discussions with Mayor Oh at the Seoul City Hall office, stating that they would promote the nationwide implementation plan for stepping stone income as a campaign pledge.
Stepping stone income is a system for income protection in Seoul that fills half of the household income shortfall compared to the standard income with cash, and is one of the policies under Mayor Oh's signature brand "accompanying the disadvantaged."
Former Minister Kim noted, "Stepping stone income has been applied to 2,000 households for three years on a trial basis by Mayor Oh in Seoul, and the results have been proven," adding, "Since Seoul has implemented this for three years and achieved results, we can confidently expand it nationwide immediately."
Lawmaker Na also stated, "Until now, basic livelihood recipients had to refrain from working to maintain continued support. In contrast, we experimented with stepping stone income to enable people to exit the support system, resulting in an exit rate of over 8%. It is a very meaningful outcome," adding, "If I become president, I will expand stepping stone income nationwide."
In particular, lawmaker Na emphasized, "This is compared to former representative Lee's basic income. Basic income distributes the same amount to everyone, failing to alleviate the gap and costing 51 trillion won annually. Stepping stone income costs about 13 trillion won a year and helps lower-income individuals significantly, thereby addressing the gap."
The two presidential candidates expressed their intention to include other "accompanying the disadvantaged" policies in their campaign pledges, such as Seoul Run, which provides online educational content to youth in difficult circumstances, and Miri House, which offers newlyweds planning childbirth or marriage opportunities for stable housing and home ownership.
Mayor Oh personally handed the "accompanying the disadvantaged" pledge book to former Minister Kim and lawmaker Na.
The presidential candidates revealed their friendship with Mayor Oh and sent out a love call for a "policy alliance."
Former Minister Kim emphasized, "Mayor Oh and I have shared a significant period working together in administration and have policy areas of shared understanding that differ from other candidates." Lawmaker Na added, "I am a politician who has worked in Seoul. There have been many exchanges," stating, "As a politician based in Seoul, I will have more interest in the accompanying the disadvantaged policy."