Lee Jae-myung's policy advisor advocated distributing AI profits to the people, which sparked domestic controversy.

The chief policy advisor to South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, Kim Yong-bum, posted on social media, advocating that the South Korean people should receive a "national dividend" from the huge profits of semiconductor companies. This statement has sparked controversy within South Korea. The Blue House has clarified that the post is purely a personal opinion and does not involve policy discussions within the government.

Kim Yong-bum, an economist by training, was appointed as the Policy Director of the Presidential Secretariat's Policy Office by Lee Jae-myung after he came to power in the middle of last year. On Monday evening (May 11th), he published a lengthy article on Facebook, pointing out that the increasing focus of South Korea's economic growth on high-tech infrastructure such as artificial intelligence (AI) will exacerbate inequality. The profits of enterprises will naturally concentrate in the hands of a small number of people, the wealth of high-tech enterprises will significantly increase, while the middle class may be left behind. Therefore, he advocated distributing a portion of the huge profits earned by technology companies in the form of "people's dividends".

Kim Yong-bum believes that the benefits brought about by the era of AI infrastructure "are not just the result of the efforts of a few enterprises", but "the fruits resulting from the foundation that the entire country has built over more than half a century". Therefore, "a portion of these benefits should be structurally returned to the people".

However, Kim Yong-bum emphasized that the purpose of his comments was to encourage all parties to accept that the money earned by the winners resulting from the growth trend of AI should be redistributed to those who lack the relevant skills or funds in AI. Next, all parties can debate based on this concept, and determine which specific plans should be formulated to achieve this goal.

The examples he listed include supporting young entrepreneurs, providing targeted funding for rural residents and people in the arts, offering pension assistance to the elderly, and investing in AI education.

Despite the impact of the war in the Middle East, the South Korean economy rebounded in the first quarter of this year from the contraction it experienced at the end of last year, growing by 1.7%. The main driving force came from the significant increase in exports of technology products such as semiconductors.

Kim Yong-bum pointed out in the article that South Korea is at the forefront of the trends that global countries are currently facing, namely, its economy is increasingly dominated by the growth of AI, more and more people will be excluded from the growth of this new era, and this social phenomenon will coexist with the low birth rate.

He believes that if South Korea takes the lead in finding appropriate ways to redistribute the profits brought by AI, it can set an example for the entire world. "The choices we make now will determine whether South Korea returns to the old path of a cyclical export-oriented economy or transforms into a brand-new industrial country."

Foreign media claim that Kim Yong-bum's remarks led to a decline in the stock market. Opposition parties have all criticized him.

Kim Yong-bum's remarks caused controversy in South Korea on Tuesday (12th), and even foreign media attributed the following day's decline in the Korean stock market to his remarks.

The opposition parties in South Korea also criticized this. The leader of the conservative People Power Party, Jang Dong-hyuk, posted a message on Facebook, sarcastically referring to the Democratic Party as "the Communist Party finally revealing its true colors", and stating that "if companies make a lot of money, the government will seize it and distribute it among the people."

The new party leader Lee Jun-seok of the reform party criticized: "The Lee Jae-myung administration has made no contribution to the booming growth of semiconductors driven by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Now, it is imposing the responsibility of exceeding corporate taxes on the enterprises."

The Blue House issued a statement on Tuesday afternoon clarifying that Kim Yong-man's remarks "were purely personal opinions and had nothing to do with the internal discussions or reviews conducted by the Blue House."