Cheong Wa Dae on the 28th addressed Minister Kim Young-hoon of the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) hinting at a "social redistribution of large corporations' excess profits," saying, "Cheong Wa Dae also hopes there will be opportunities for various public discussions through a forum in the future." Kang Yu-jung, senior Spokesperson for Cheong Wa Dae, said at a Cheong Wa Dae briefing that day, in response to related questions, "From the labor minister's standpoint, this mentioned the need to distribute performance," and answered accordingly.
Spokesperson Kang said, "As various social problems and social tasks to be discussed going forward have been raised, the labor minister noted this is an issue our society should openly discuss," adding, "If it were the Minister of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI), from an industrial standpoint the minister could speak about corporations' excess operating profits or profits."
Earlier, the Minister said at a press meeting with the reporters' pool the previous day, "The only solution to how to distribute large corporations' excess profits is social dialogue," and said a forum would be held next month. Tied to the global boom in the artificial intelligence (AI) industry and the labor-management dispute at Samsung Electronics, the aim is to put issues such as paying performance bonuses linked to operating profits, in addition to existing wages, on the public agenda. It also means trying to ease the polarization brought about by the boom in certain industries, but there is considerable disagreement over whether corporations' operating profits beyond existing wages are a mandatory subject for distribution.
Such remarks by the labor minister drew attention in connection with Presidential Policy Chief Kim Yong-beom's proposal for a "national dividend." Earlier, on the 11th, Kim posted on Facebook a proposal for a "national dividend" that would return to all citizens the excess tax revenues resulting from Korean corporations' record profits in the AI era. While an AI boom and excess tax revenues are expected over the next few years, under the current structure there is a high possibility that wealth will be concentrated in only some groups, so the idea is to set up a mechanism to distribute the tax take. However, words such as "excess profits" and "excess profit," which pertain to corporations, got mixed in and also sparked controversy.