'Comments aimed at improving farm jobs, not disparaging foreigners'

'Review targets postnatal care fairness, not elimination of multicultural support'

President Lee Jae Myung speaks at the second plenary session of the National Commission on Public Safety and Life at Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday. [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung speaks at the second plenary session of the National Commission on Public Safety and Life at Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday. [Yonhap]

Cheong Wa Dae moved to contain the fallout from President Lee Jae Myung's remarks — in which Lee suggested foreign workers do not contribute greatly to the national economy and called for a review of preferential policies for multicultural families — urging the public to "consider the context and substance of the remarks rather than focusing on specific words."

Chief Presidential Spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said Thursday in an official notice that Lee's comments at a Cabinet meeting "were not primarily about foreign workers." The core message, Kang said, was that wages in the farming and fishing sectors are too low and that the government must create quality, productive jobs in agriculture and fisheries with guaranteed pay.

At the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Lee raised the issue of labor shortages in rural areas, saying, "Even when we bring in foreign workers, it does not help the national economy that much — they send most of their earnings back home."

Lee also posted on X (formerly Twitter) that same day to clarify the intent, writing that foreign workers who remit money abroad do contribute to the domestic economy — in terms of job creation, consumption and stimulating domestic demand — but "not as greatly" as Korean workers. Lee added that the government should explore ways to increase domestic employment through wage subsidies.

On Wednesday, Lee posted again on X, writing that "preferential systems for multicultural families operated by local governments, including the Seoul Metropolitan Government, have become a source of concern." Lee said the plan was to "conduct an in-depth review — including consultations with local governments and possible revisions to enforcement decrees — on whether there is a strong need to extend preferential treatment to multicultural families beyond simply preventing harm to them, and whether such preferential systems should be abolished." The remarks drew criticism from parts of the progressive camp, who called them a step backward on multicultural policy.

In response, Kang said the concern raised about maternal and child health support "was not a call to eliminate support for multicultural families, but a call to improve the system by enhancing the fairness and rationality of postnatal care center priority access, so that all families with newborns can find the support equitable."

Presidential Secretary for Population Policy Im Ho-geun also said Thursday in a separate notice that Lee's post about local government postnatal care center policies "raised the need to improve the support system by enhancing the fairness and rationality of priority access to postnatal care centers, so that all families with newborns can find the support equitable."


sunpine@heraldcorp.com