Author: Wang Chao
The new president of South Korea, Lee Jae-myung, carries many labels: the soda mayor, hunger strike for 20 days, idol, live streaming to breach the National Assembly. Beyond these widely recognized tags, a closer look at his political career over the past decade reveals another important label—someone who loves to distribute money. From Seongnam City to Gyeonggi Province, from 24-year-olds to farmers and artists, he now aims to distribute money to all citizens.
Lee Jae-myung spent ten years turning what seemed like a crazy idea into reality. The question he wants to answer is simple: in the AI era, does everyone have the right to unconditionally share in social wealth?
Basic income refers to cash income distributed periodically to everyone, on an individual basis, without the need for economic status investigation or work requirements. It is commonly referred to as universal basic income or unconditional basic income, abbreviated as UBI.
UBI seems advanced, but it is actually a concept that has been discussed for centuries. As early as the 16th century, Thomas More proposed similar ideas in (Utopia). In the 1960s, Nobel laureate Milton Friedman introduced the theory of "negative income tax," and Martin Luther King Jr. called for the establishment of an "income guarantee" system in his last book. In the 1970s, the Nixon administration nearly passed a family assistance plan similar to UBI. Entering the 21st century, with the development of artificial intelligence, more and more people, from Silicon Valley tech elites to Nobel laureates, began to seriously discuss the feasibility of UBI. Dozens of countries have launched pilot experiments to explore the practical viability of this concept.
In South Korea, Lee Jae-myung is the most active advocate and practitioner of UBI.
In January 2016, then-mayor of Seongnam, Lee Jae-myung, did something "crazy"—he gave money to all 24-year-olds. Each person received 1 million won, with no additional conditions, only requiring local consumption. This policy, criticized by the Park Geun-hye government as "populism," unexpectedly achieved great success. Young people received tangible cash support, local businesses benefited from increased consumption, and Lee Jae-myung gained widespread political support. This bold experiment became an important step for him towards a higher political stage.
After being elected governor of Gyeonggi Province in 2018, the population in his jurisdiction surged from 900,000 to 13 million, accounting for one-quarter of South Korea's total population. He quickly expanded the original youth basic income plan, which was limited to Seongnam City, to all 31 cities and counties in Gyeonggi Province. In 2022, he launched a more radical experiment in rural areas: through a lottery, a village was selected, and all 3,880 residents of that village will receive an unconditional subsidy of 150,000 won per month for five years. This experiment aims to study the impact of basic income on health, local economy, employment, and distribution inequality.
In the 2022 presidential election, Lee Jae-myung proposed a complete, gradual UBI plan. Its core content is to provide economic support for all South Korean citizens, with an initial amount set at 250,000 won per person per year, and plans to gradually increase it to 1 million won during his term. The annual total expenditure for these basic income plans is about 58 trillion won, and Lee Jae-myung plans to raise funds mainly through land value tax and carbon tax, which faced strong criticism from his competitor Yoon Seok-youl. Moreover, during Moon Jae-in's administration, the tax rate on comprehensive real estate tax significantly increased, also triggering public resistance to any increase in real estate-related taxes. Although Lee Jae-myung's proposed land value tax only targets land value taxation, he failed to help the public understand the difference. Polls show that most people do not agree with his view that "the land dividend plan will make the majority of the population net beneficiaries." In this context, Lee Jae-myung had to retreat, stating that if the majority of the public disagrees, he would not implement universal basic income and land value tax, but he still insists on providing basic income for specific groups, such as the youth and farmers.
Ultimately, Lee Jae-myung narrowly lost in the 2022 election by a mere 0.7%, which may be the political price he paid for his UBI vision.
Having learned from the previous lesson, in the 2025 presidential campaign, Lee Jae-myung's stance and expression on the UBI issue underwent a significant transformation. He deliberately avoided the UBI topic for a long time, instead emphasizing pro-business policies, research and development investment, and artificial intelligence development. Nevertheless, UBI remains an important component of his progressive reform attempts, deeply imprinted in his political image.
On May 22, just 11 days before the voting day, perhaps due to an overwhelming advantage, he was no longer afraid of the controversies that UBI might provoke, and he once again presented a grand vision called "basic society," with the "UBI uncle" returning.
"Basic society" is not a brand new specific UBI plan, but rather a relatively moderate blueprint that embodies strong UBI elements, aiming to cover a complete income support system from birth to old age. The name has changed, but the core idea remains unchanged. Lee Jae-myung believes that in an era dominated by AI and robots in production, the traditional assumption that "everyone can continuously work" is outdated. The technological dividends should not be monopolized by a few, but shared by all.
Understanding Lee Jae-myung's UBI vision requires exploring the deep philosophical thinking and insights of the times behind it. He sees it as a core solution to address social polarization, the impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, shrinking consumption, and safeguarding the economic rights of the people. He believes that modern capitalism faces structural crises, especially against the backdrop of technological innovation, where "no job growth" and the wealth gap will intensify. UBI stimulates consumption by increasing public income, forming a virtuous economic cycle, embodying both welfare and economic stimulus.
In addition, Lee Jae-myung emphasized that UBI aims to guarantee the citizens' right to "economic basics" and lead a decent life. He believes that when labor is no longer the only means of survival, the dividends of technological progress should be shared by all. UBI can redefine labor, helping people escape "painful labor" and pursue "happy labor" and self-realization.
The Extensive Discussion and Real Challenges of UBI in South Korea
In South Korea, Lee Jae-myung is not the only political figure supporting UBI. The idea of UBI has a broad mass base in South Korean society, even giving rise to a political organization called the "Basic Income Party." Founded in 2020, the party primarily developed members through the internet, with the slogan "600,000 won per month for everyone," and they actually won a seat in the National Assembly in subsequent elections.
At the same time, other forms of income support experiments are also underway. In July 2022, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon launched a three-year "安心收入" random double-blind experiment within his jurisdiction, which is a family-based negative income tax plan. Negative income tax is often seen as an important variant of UBI, with its core mechanism being: when income exceeds a certain tax threshold, taxes must be paid; if not, not only is there no tax, but a subsidy can also be received. Surprisingly, Lee Jae-myung's political opponent, the People Power Party, also incorporated the concept of basic income into its party platform, clearly stating: "The state should support every citizen to live a safe and free life through basic income to cope with the upcoming Fourth Industrial Revolution era."
All of this indicates that UBI has transitioned from a marginal idea to a mainstream concept in South Korea. Nevertheless, the widespread implementation of UBI in South Korea and globally still faces significant challenges, such as fiscal sustainability, achieving social consensus, and political and administrative coordination capabilities. The future of Lee Jae-myung's "basic society" will depend not only on the superiority of the idea but also on whether various real-world problems can be properly resolved. Regardless of the future, Lee Jae-myung's relentless exploration of UBI has provided valuable experience for the innovation of social policies in South Korea and around the world.
In an era of material production abundance and technology capable of replacing human labor, what is the ultimate measure of social progress? As machines take over the production line, Lee Jae-myung's exploration questions us: can humanity transcend passive adaptation and actively shape a future society that belongs to us, with dignity and value?
Perhaps this is his most profound political legacy—rather than a definitive answer, it is the eternal question of how humanity can maintain dignity and value in the flood of technology.