President Lee Jae Myung has branded criticism of plans announced by his policy aide to distribute excess tax revenue from South Korea's technology sector as "fake news."
In an X post shared Wednesday, Lee condemned reports from media outlets, which he said was designed to manipulate public opinion.
His post came a day after the chief presidential secretary for policy, Kim Yong-beom, called for "structural changes" to prevent bipolarization stemming from "excess gains" from artificial intelligence technology.
In a Facebook post, Kim floated what he called a "citizens' dividend," funded by a boost in tax revenue from the booming tech sector. His proposal triggered stock market volatility and a foreign investor selloff.
Lee claimed that related news reports had a malicious intent to mislead the public.
"People must remember that any political condemnations or criticisms are detrimental to democracy if they are not based on facts," Lee said.
The president quoted a news report carrying main opposition People Power Party lawmaker Rep. Park Soo-young's response to Kim's remarks.
Park claimed that Kim's proposal was meant to "redistribute the excess wealth from corporate profits to the public," adding that the scheme reminded him of socialist legacies in countries like Venezuela.
According to Lee, some news outlets misrepresented Kim's proposals as a plan to distribute a company's excess profit to the public. Instead, what Kim proposed was to distribute excess tax revenue resulting from companies' large profits.
"Kim has kindly made explanations (regarding his remarks), but why do such news reports with malicious intent still exist?" Lee noted.
The report was taken down shortly after Lee quoted it on X.
Lee on Tuesday also warned on his X that circulating fake news on state affairs is a "serious crime subject to criminal punishment."
But the ruling party chair earlier Wednesday said the policy chief's AI dividend remarks were "premature."
Ruling Democratic Party of Korea Chair Jung Chung-rae said in a press conference at the National Assembly on Wednesday that Kim's proposal came at a time when South Korea "was taking an unprecedented path" and when a great transformation in the history of civilization was taking place.
But Jung said Kim's proposal could have been announced after conducting academic research and reaching public consensus, so that the proposal could become law. He added that Kim had not discussed the issue with his party before posting his remarks on Facebook.
"It was like opening the lid of a rice cooker prematurely, causing the rice to become undercooked," Jung said.
consnow@heraldcorp.com
