Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung: "I am an onion—I adopt any policy that helps the people, regardless of left or right"

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] "I am an onion."

Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung pushed back against criticism from within the ruling coalition that his advocacy for introducing a "basic income system" is right-leaning, saying "any policy that helps the people is acceptable."

On the 9th, Governor Lee Jae-myung shared a link to an article from a media outlet on his SNS. The article covered comments made by Democratic Party lawmaker Shin Dong-geun, who posted a message titled "On the Introduction of Basic Income in Korean Reality" to a Telegram group of all ruling party lawmakers on the 27th of last month. Lawmaker Shin Dong-geun criticized Governor Lee's basic income system proposal for being "caught in right-wing planning" and instead advocated for the introduction of a "universal employment insurance system."

Governor Lee Jae-myung shared the article on SNS and stated, "I am an onion. Since I am an administrator rather than an ideological scholar, I use any efficient policy that helps the people, whether it is left-wing or right-wing policy. If I had to categorize myself by a vegetable, I would be an onion or a radish..."

Previously, the governor also responded to Lawmaker Shin Dong-geun's argument through SNS, saying "Democracy requires diverse opinions to be guaranteed, mutual listening to each other's claims, and active discussion, doesn't it?" He added, "Our Democratic Party is such a place. We welcome interest in basic income and appreciate your advice. It would be nice if the party gave us an opportunity to discuss this once."