hankyoreh

Gyeonggi Provincial Governor Lee Jae-myung, an avid supporter of universal basic income

As South Korean politicians debate the idea of implementing universal basic income (UBI), a new poll shows that the public is split on the issue.

Realmeter reported on June 8 that, in a poll of 500 voters around the country, 48.6% of respondents supported the idea of adopting UBI to guarantee a minimum livelihood, while 42.8% said they imposed the idea because it would strain the budget and lead to higher taxes. The poll, conducted on June 5 on behalf of YTN, had a reliability of 95% and a sampling error of ±4.4 points. In effect, support and opposition for the measure fall within the margin of error. Only 8.6% of respondents said they weren’t sure about the idea.

Lawmakers in the 21st National Assembly, who began their term at the end of May, are more favorable about adopting UBI than the general public. According to of a survey of political ideology and attitudes on policy issues in the 21st National Assembly carried out by the Hankyoreh and Korean Association of Party Studies (the results released on June 8), Democratic Party lawmakers’ attitude toward UBI was close to “active support,” at 2.08, while the United Future Party (UFP) was near the middle, at 5.35. On the scale used in the survey, 0 represents strong support and 10 represents strong opposition.

At least in regard to UBI, lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Party struck a very progressive stance, while lawmakers with the main opposition UFP were more moderate, with similar levels of support and opposition. One apparent factor here is the widespread public support for the emergency disaster allowance that was distributed shortly before the general election on Apr. 15 to compensate for the economic hardship resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Democratic Party and UFP narrow differences on expanding employment insurance

The Democratic Party and the UFP were also found to have narrowed their differences about the idea of expanding employment insurance for the entire workforce, an idea that, along with basic income, has gained attention as a new social safety net in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. According to the survey of lawmakers, the Democratic Party’s stance about the proposed expansion neared active support, at 2.53, while the UFP’s stance of 4.78 was close to support. While it’s not surprising that the Democratic Party would actively support expanding employment insurance, an idea it has advocated both the party level and in the government, it’s notable that the UFP, as a conservative party, has adopted a center-left stance on this issue.

By Noh Hyun-woong, staff reporter

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