Remarks seen as a veiled jab at Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae over budget cuts

President Lee Jae Myung [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung [Yonhap]

President Lee Jae Myung said Sunday that people who have "lived all their lives as high officials, enjoying comfort thanks to their parents, find it hard to understand the weary lives and mindset of ordinary citizens."

The remarks were widely interpreted as a veiled reference to Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae, who has been embroiled in controversy over cuts to childcare and welfare budgets — including a 1.2 billion won ($896,000) official residence — citing a fiscal crisis in the province.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, that morning, Lee asked: "Can people who enjoy every luxury on the hard-earned taxes of ordinary citizens, while being harsher toward the powerless and cutting small welfare budgets without a second thought, truly understand the feelings of someone who cannot afford a few thousand won for fruit, someone who goes hungry over a matter of tens of thousands of won, or someone who wonders whether they should just hold their family close and die?"

He added that "constantly looking into the back alleys of daily life and looking after those in the lowest places in this world is what governance, administration and politics are for," and that those in power "must know that a carelessly swung blade can cut through lives they never even imagined."

"Why do we do politics? It is a question we in politics must constantly ask ourselves," Lee said.

Earlier, Choo had written on Facebook on Saturday in response to protests by a childcare center association over the budget cuts, saying the reductions were not made arbitrarily but stemmed from insufficient funding allocated in the base budget drawn up by the previous provincial administration.

On the decision to lower the per-child support rate for childcare center operating costs from 12,600 won to 6,000 won, Choo said the adjustment took into account national government subsidies of 1 million won per facility per month.

She also said the budget for extended nighttime childcare center operations had been increased by 190 million won in a supplementary budget proposal, but the bill had yet to pass the provincial assembly.


sang@heraldcorp.com