After the presidential office formally protested a Bloomberg report that interpreted Deputy Minister Kim Yong-beom's "national dividend" idea as a plan to allocate excess profits from artificial intelligence (AI) corporations, the ruling and opposition parties clashed head-on on the 16th.
The People Power Party criticized the government for pressuring the media by even taking issue with foreign press reports, while the Democratic Party of Korea countered that it was a legitimate step to correct incorrect facts.
Jang Dong-hyeok, standing election committee chairperson of the People Power Party, criticized the presidential office's response on Facebook the same day, saying it "should explain to investors and the public first, not fight the media." Jang said Kim repeatedly mentioned "excess profits" and a "national dividend" and even cited the Norwegian sovereign wealth funds model, arguing it is hard to dismiss the Bloomberg report as a simple misunderstanding.
Jang also argued that domestic media outlets are reading the room of those in power. He noted that some outlets had taken down related articles and said the government is chilling the media environment. Park Chung-kwon, head of public relations at the central election committee of the People Power Party, also issued a commentary, criticizing it as "shifting responsibility," saying the government demanded apologies not only from domestic media but also from foreign press.
The Democratic Party of Korea pushed back, saying the opposition's offensive distorts the issue. Floor spokesperson Lee Ju-hee said in a written briefing that it is a basic duty for administrative trust and market stability for the government to request corrections to reports that differ from objective facts. She added that what the public wants is cooperation for people's livelihoods and the economy, not political strife, and pointed out that the People Power Party is using foreign press reports as material for political attacks.
The dispute stems from differing interpretations of whether Kim's remarks were a "plan to return to the public the excess tax revenues that will increase as the AI industry grows," or a proposal to directly share corporations' excess profits. Bloomberg reported it as a discussion of a national dividend using AI revenue, while the presidential office believes expressions that made it read like a distribution of corporations' profits fueled market confusion. With AI semiconductor stocks and overall market volatility rising, the precision of policy messaging and the level of media response are together becoming political flashpoints.