Lee continues social media debate over multicultural family support policies for third consecutive day

President Lee Jae Myung speaks at a Cabinet meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae on Oct. 20. [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung speaks at a Cabinet meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae on Oct. 20. [Yonhap]

President Lee Jae Myung has continued to stoke debate over support policies for multicultural families for several days running.

On Saturday, Lee posted again on X, formerly Twitter, reiterating that preferential policies for multicultural families need to be reviewed for appropriateness. "It is true that support for multicultural families is necessary, but that cannot justify specific policies that are unreasonable or create reverse discrimination," Lee wrote.

Lee went on to say that "just because a general argument is right does not mean every specific argument derived from it is right," adding that people should reflect on "why there is public resentment toward statements rooted in political correctness, double standards, or factionalism."

Lee also wrote that "acknowledging and correcting flawed 'parts' will strengthen support for the necessary 'whole,'" and stressed that "the more sensitive an issue is, the more it must be openly debated by all citizens — not avoided because it is controversial, nor decided behind closed doors by those in power."

Lee added, "If something is wrong, it must be corrected — regardless of who, what, or which area it involves," and said that "defending even the flawed parts of an issue simply because it is your side or your cause does not help solve the problem — it makes it worse."

Earlier, on Wednesday, Lee had said he would "review whether there is a strong need to go beyond protecting multicultural families from harm to actually giving them preferential treatment, and whether the preferential system should be abolished."

After those remarks drew concern from progressive circles over a potential rollback of multicultural family support and the risk of fueling discrimination, Lee has used social media to push back for three consecutive days through Saturday.


sang@heraldcorp.com