Lee Jae-myung: "I Will Continue to Steadily Create Small Changes Going Forward"

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung has posted a message expressing resolve to "implement practical people-centered reform," drawing attention.

On the 20th, Governor Lee shared an anecdote about the upright official Yi Won-ik through his social media, stating, "Change begins with small things we can do. If we diligently achieve tiny results, they will accumulate and create monumental change."

Following this, Governor Lee enumerated various large and small projects by Gyeonggi Province, including initiatives to support the independence of youth aging out of the child welfare system, subsidies for workers' compensation insurance premiums for platform workers, and improvements to rest facilities for apartment security workers. He added, "While carrying out projects, we sometimes face high and thick walls of entrenched interests, like with the installation of CCTV in operating rooms, but we cannot give up. Change becomes distant if we yield to entrenched interests. I will continue to focus on consistently creating small changes we can make. If we can regain trust in the effectiveness of 'people-centered' politics, I will not give up no matter how high the wall stands. What we must do now is maintain a humble stance, fear the sovereign people, and constantly commit ourselves to 'implementing practical people-centered reform,' both large and small, to improve the people's lives."

Governor Lee concluded by saying, "What we must do now is maintain a humble stance, respect the sovereign people, and ceaselessly pursue 'practical people-centered reform' in all its forms—large and small—to improve the people's lives."

The following is the full text of Governor Lee's social media post.

<Politics Must Be the Practice of Practical People-Centered Reform>
In Soha-dong, Gwangmyeong City, Gyeonggi Province, there stands Gwanggeamdang, the residence of the late Wandul Yi Won-ik. This Gwanggeamdang was built by King Injo when he learned that Yi Won-ik, an upright official who served as Prime Minister five times, lived in a two-room grass-thatched house with a leaking roof after his retirement. King Injo built it so that "all officials would observe and feel" his integrity.
In the first year of King Gwanghaegun's reign, Yi Won-ik implemented the Gyeonggi Selective Tax Law (the Gyeonggi Province Daedongyak), laying the foundation for what would become the greatest reform of the Joseon Dynasty—the Daedongyak (Comprehensive Tax). Yi Won-ik emphasized that "the people are solely the foundation of the nation" and "everything else is merely excess," establishing the resolution of people's livelihoods as the first duty of politics. Because of his conviction, despite fierce opposition from the privileged class and the failure of the Daedongyak in three provinces during King Injo's reign (Chungcheong, Jeolla, and Gangwon), the reform flourished nationwide under King Sukjong.
Ultimately, I believe that politics is a process of practically building a better world. Therefore, politics requires constant and deep reflection on whether we are implementing substantive reforms that benefit people's livelihoods, whether large or small. In line with the people's expectations and perspectives, I believe the point at which citizens question and hold us accountable is precisely whether the actual improvement in people's lives matches the volume of calls for people-centered reform.
If politics is about creating better order and a better world, and politics is realized through policy, then resistance and opposition to change from those who benefited from existing policies is inevitable. We must persuade and compromise, but appropriately exercise the authority granted to us to carry out the right things the people want and need.
The more effective a reform, the greater the resistance it faces; and many small reforms with little opposition can accumulate to bring about great transformation.
If we abandon grand visions because they require time, effort, and overcoming entrenched interests, and avoid small attempts because they seem trivial, the world will not change.
Change begins with small things we can do. Just as the efforts of previous generations who prioritized people's livelihoods completed the Daedongyak over a hundred years, if we diligently achieve tiny results, they will accumulate and create monumental change like a great mountain.
I dare not compare myself to those great figures, but I endeavor each day to follow their spirit.
Among Gyeonggi Province's projects, many are notably the first nationwide despite appearing minor, because we seek to find every possible way, however small, to help people's livelihoods across all sectors.
Efforts to expand housing and self-reliance support funds for youth aging out of child welfare facilities at age eighteen, extending employment periods at social enterprises, and providing workers' compensation insurance premium subsidies for platform workers caught in the blind spots of the system are part of these efforts to change things, starting small.
Various other policies are the same—improvements to rest facilities for apartment security workers, universal provision of menstrual products for female adolescents, and public development profit-sharing programs for residents.
Although our authority and role are limited and these small attempts are woefully insufficient to change the world, they are urgent livelihood issues for those directly affected.
While carrying out projects, we sometimes face high and thick walls of entrenched interests, like with the installation of CCTV in operating rooms, but we cannot give up. Change becomes distant if we yield to entrenched interests.
I will continue to focus on consistently creating small changes we can make going forward. If we can regain trust in the effectiveness of 'people-centered' politics that solves livelihood issues, I will not give up no matter how high the wall.
What we must do now is maintain a humble stance, respect the sovereign people, and ceaselessly pursue 'practical people-centered reform' in all its forms—large and small—to improve people's lives.