On the 13th, President Lee Jae-myung instructed his aides to “look into it separately” after being told that 150 billion won (approx. 115 million USD) worth of pro-Japanese collaborators’ assets have still not been recovered.
The President made this remark during a closed-door session of a “National Finance Savings Roundtable” held that morning at the Yongsan Presidential Office.
The issue was raised by Jung Chang-su, head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a civilian participant at the meeting. Jung pointed out, “The day after tomorrow is Liberation Day, yet 150 billion won in pro-Japanese collaborators’ assets remain unrecovered. This is largely because the previous administration only made passive efforts. These assets should be recovered and used to help those who sacrificed for the nation.”
Since the roundtable was convened with the aim of reallocating wasteful spending to the people’s livelihood, the proposal was raised to channel recovered assets into veterans’ benefits. In response, President Lee said, “There’s talk of recovering pro-Japanese collaborators’ assets — make sure to check into this separately and report back to me.”
Jung also criticized the government’s ownership of golf courses, stating, “The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs has held on to the 88 Country Club for 10 years without selling it. Selling it and using the funds for the veterans’ fund would be much more efficient.” To this, President Lee replied, “It’s not really appropriate for the government to keep such assets on its books.”
The President also brought up the issue of consolidating public institutions, saying, “There are so many, I can’t even count them,” and directed Policy Chief Kim Yong-bum to “undertake a large-scale consolidation.”
Regarding next year’s budget, the President remarked, “Budgets fragmented by supply-side considerations need to be integrated on a demand-side basis.” According to Presidential Office Spokesperson Kang Yoo-jung, in a briefing later that afternoon, President Lee expressed agreement with the idea of unifying various subsidies for infants and toddlers into a single “Basic Child Income.”
President Lee also criticized the current “application-based” approach to welfare payments. “Because people don’t apply, they miss out on support, and in some cases even die as a result. In today’s information society, the government already knows who qualifies. It would be better to pay everyone automatically, and if someone doesn’t want it, they can return it. Why waste administrative capacity making people apply?” he said.
Policy Chief Kim responded, “If the government takes responsibility for proactively identifying and paying recipients, and only withholds payment in special cases where individuals refuse, it would be a major shift in philosophy. We will review this together with the relevant ministries.”
Posted by Freewhale98