President Lee Jae-myung made an unannounced visit on the 31st to Cheongsong and Yeongyang counties in North Gyeongsang Province to inspect pilot sites for rural basic income. He voiced confidence in the results and said he would pay closer attention to financing so the program can run stably.
According to the Kyunghyang Shinmun and Financial News, Lee visited Cheongsong and Yeongyang on the 31st and met residents and merchants in the pilot areas. The presidential office had not announced the schedule in advance. Yeongyang is his mother's hometown, and he reportedly said it felt good to be back home.
광고 문의 · 300×250In Cheongsong he walked through Jinbo Traditional Market, stopping at restaurants, a butcher, a pharmacy and a hair salon. County head Yun Kyung-hee called it the first presidential visit since the county was founded and said the population rose by about 1,500 within two to three months of the program starting. Lee ate beef rice soup with residents for lunch, and they asked him to ease local governments' fiscal burden.
Yeongyang's mobile market and village hall
In Yeongyang he went to Yeondang 1-ri, where the mobile market 'Masil Market' operates. With no shops nearby, the county sends two vehicles loaded with more than 150 daily necessities around the villages. At the village hall Lee talked with residents, a cafe owner and the head of a traditional food company, likening Yeongyang to an 'island on land' and saying basic income could open new opportunities. County head Oh Do-chang called the population gain the first in half a century.
According to the presidential office, in both counties the county adds its own funds to pay each resident 200,000 won a month in local gift vouchers, and population has grown more than 5% since selection as a pilot area, with local retail sales also up. Financial News reported Lee argued that the in-area spending rule keeps spending from concentrating in the town center, and that he mentioned using shared profits from wind and solar projects as a funding source.
Lee named the program's lack of stability amid political debate as a difficulty. However, whether the population and sales gains cited by the presidential office stem from basic income alone, or also from other factors, could not be independently confirmed in this report. The views of fiscally strained local governments and of those cautious about expansion also remain to be weighed in the discussion ahead.
