'Preventing preferential treatment, reverse discrimination necessary… core purpose must not be undermined'

'Goal of supporting the vulnerable is to restore equality… problems should be corrected'

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

President Lee Jae Myung said Thursday that correcting excesses in some policies "must not be mistaken for measures that promote general discrimination or hatred toward multicultural families."

In a post on X, Lee said "ensuring multicultural families are not treated worse than other households is a necessary policy and must of course continue," but added that "some policies must not go beyond their original intent to the point of conferring special privileges or creating reverse discrimination against non-multicultural households."

Lee said "the essence of a problem does not change depending on who raises it, nor should it," and that "excesses in specific policies undermine public trust in policy overall, so if there is a problem, it is right to correct it swiftly regardless of who raised it."

Lee added that support for the socially vulnerable "aims to make up for what falls short of the general average in order to restore equality, so it is absolutely necessary to ensure such support does not become preferential or unjustly favorable treatment," and that correcting excesses in some policies "must not be mistaken for measures that promote general discrimination or hatred toward multicultural families."


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