As criticism emerged that the 820 trillion won budget plan for next year is "tilted toward growth and lacks measures to ease polarization," President Lee Jae-myung countered, saying, "Right now we need to focus more on restoring growth."
On the 2nd, the president shared an editorial on X (formerly Twitter) arguing that the budget to ease polarization should be strengthened, and said, "It's unfortunate, but we are in a growth lean season created by the previous administration, so for now we need to focus more on restoring growth." He added, "That doesn't mean welfare has been rolled back."
He said, "If we fail to restore sustained growth and end up going from 0% growth to negative growth, polarization will widen and even welfare cuts could follow," adding, "Abandoning growth while expanding welfare is impossible, and expanding both growth and welfare simultaneously is ideal but unrealistic. Unavoidably, for now, I believe we should focus on growth to enlarge the pie."
Lee also drew a line against the claim that welfare expansion efforts are lacking. He said, "It may be hard to be satisfied, but we are striving to expand welfare," adding, "There is even criticism that the budget is excessive welfare populism."
He added, "It has only been a year, so I ask that you give us a little more time."