The Democratic Party of Korea and the government discussed specific criteria for the second distribution of people's livelihood recovery consumption coupons for the bottom 90% of income earners on 2nd. They agreed to apply household health insurance premiums as the payment criteria but decided to exclude high asset owners through a separate cut-off. Special exceptions will be applied for single-person households and households with multiple income sources to prevent reverse discrimination, and they are discussing expanding the usage locations to include co-operatives and nearby commercial areas for military personnel.
Democratic Party lawmakers belonging to the Public Administration and Security Committee and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety held a party-government consultation meeting at the National Assembly that day to focus on discussing payment criteria and the expansion of usage locations.
Yoon Geon-young, a Democratic Party lawmaker and the ruling party's secretary of the Public Administration and Security Committee, met with reporters after the meeting and noted, "We plan to utilize household health insurance premiums as we did during the 2021 national support fund distribution, but a separate cut-off criteria will be established to exclude high asset owners," adding, "We will select the bottom 90% of income earners."
He also added, "We have decided to establish special provisions taking into account the characteristics of households such as single-person households and households with multiple income sources," and said, "There were calls to ensure that the income criteria for single-person households do not face reverse discrimination compared to assets."
Lawmaker Yoon Geon-young, the ruling party's secretary of the Public Administration and Security Committee, clarified the cut-off criteria for high asset owners for consumption coupons in a separate document. He explained that the Ministry of the Interior and Safety reported that they were reviewing plans to exclude those with standard real estate values exceeding 1.2 billion won and financial income (interest or dividends) of over 20 million won. Yoon said, "The target for the second consumption coupons, which is the bottom 90% of income earners, is based on health insurance premiums, but specific details are still under discussion."
The usage locations for the coupons will also be significantly expanded. Lawmaker Yoon stated, "There have been many discussions about issues regarding usage locations, but for the second distribution, we have decided to expand it to co-operatives and will review plans to provide prepaid cards that can be used in nearby commercial areas for military personnel," explaining that this is intended to enhance the revitalization effect of local businesses by addressing the limitations of existing usage locations.
During the consultation meeting, the issue of the local extinction response fund was also discussed. The party and government shared the opinion that the fund should transition from the existing practice of being predominantly implemented for social overhead capital (SOC) projects to a direction that actually increases the resident population. To this end, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety has decided to prepare long-term measures.
Meanwhile, the government organization law reform issue, which had drawn interest, was not included in the agenda for the day. While there are differing opinions regarding the establishment of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, Yoon stated, "We will go through a public consensus process within the Democratic Party on the 5th and prepare a unified proposal at the high-level government party meeting on the 7th," adding that "if necessary, we can review the possibility of additional party-government meetings thereafter."
Additionally, the drought measures in Gangneung and the basic income issue for farming and fishing communities were also discussed. Yoon noted, "Regarding the Gangneung drought, I understand that the party leadership and President Lee Jae-myung have already visited the site and prepared measures," adding that, "Although the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is responsible for basic income for farming and fishing communities, there were suggestions that the Ministry of the Interior and Safety should take a leading role, to which the Minister also agreed."