From southern Seoul to the Blue House, the gains and losses of Lee Jae-myung's ten-year money distribution experiment.

He believes that when labor is no longer the only means of survival, the benefits of technological progress should be shared by all.

Written by: Wang Chao

The new president of South Korea, Lee Jae-myung, carries many labels: soda mayor, hunger strike for 20 days, idol, live-streaming to breach the National Assembly. Beyond these widely recognized labels, if we take a closer look at his political career over the past decade, we will find another important label: generous with money. From distributing funds in Seongnam to Gyeonggi Province, from 24-year-old youths to farmers and artists, and now aiming to distribute to all citizens.

Lee Jae-myung spent ten years turning what seemed like a crazy idea into reality step by step. The question he wanted to answer is very simple: in the era of AI, does everyone have the right to share social wealth unconditionally?

Basic income is a cash income paid to everyone on a regular basis, 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 may seem advanced, but it’s actually a concept that has been discussed for centuries. As early as the 16th century, Thomas More proposed a similar idea in Utopia. In the 60s of the 20th century, Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman proposed the theory of “negative income tax”, and Martin Luther King Jr. called for the establishment of a “guaranteed income” system in his last book. In the '70s, the Nixon administration even came close to passing a UBI-like family assistance program. In the 21st century, with the development of artificial intelligence, more and more people from Silicon Valley tech elites to Nobel laureates in economics have begun to seriously discuss the possibilities of UBI. Dozens of countries are conducting UBI pilot experiments to explore the real-world feasibility 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-old youths. Each received 1 million won, with no conditions attached, as long as it was spent locally. 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 garnered 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 district’s population swelled from 900,000 to 13 million, a quarter of South Korea’s total population, and he quickly expanded the original youth basic income program, which was limited to Seongnam, to all 31 cities and counties in Gyeonggi Province. In 2022, he launched a more radical experiment in rural areas: a village was selected by lottery, and all 3,880 residents of the village will receive an unconditional monthly allowance of 150,000 won for five years. The purpose of this experiment is to study the impact of basic income on health, local economies, employment, and inequality in distribution.

In the 2022 presidential election, Lee Jae-myung even proposed a complete and progressive UBI plan. The core of the plan is to provide financial support to all Korean nationals, with an initial amount of 250,000 won per person per year, and plans to gradually increase it to 1 million won during the term of office. The total annual expenditure of these basic income programs is about 58 trillion won, and Lee Jae-myung’s plan to fund it mainly through land appreciation tax and carbon tax has come under strong criticism from rival Yoon Suk-yeol. During the Moon Jae-in administration, the large increase in the rate of imported and comprehensive property taxes has also sparked strong public resistance to any increase in real estate-related taxes. Although Lee Jae-myung’s proposed land value-added tax only taxes the value of land, Lee Jae-myung failed to get the public to understand the difference. Opinion polls show that the majority of people do not agree with his view that “the land dividend scheme will make the majority of the population a net beneficiary”. Against this backdrop, Lee Jae-myung had to back down, saying that if the majority of the people did not agree, he would not implement universal basic income and land appreciation tax, but he still insisted on providing basic income for at least certain groups, such as youth and farmers.

In the end, Lee Jae-myung lost the 2022 election by a narrow margin of 0.7%, which may be the political cost he paid for his UBI vision.

With the lessons learned from last time, Lee Jae-myung’s stance and presentation on UBI issues has shifted considerably during the 2025 presidential campaign. For a long time, he deliberately avoided UBI issues, and instead placed more emphasis on pro-business policies, R&D investment, and artificial intelligence development. Nonetheless, UBI remained an important part of his progressive reform attempts and was deeply imprinted into his political image.

On May 22, just 11 days before the voting day, perhaps the accumulated advantage was too obvious, making him no longer afraid of the controversy that UBI might provoke. He once again unveiled a grand vision called “Basic Society,” and the “UBI Uncle” is back.

The “Basic Society” is not an entirely new specific UBI plan, but rather a relatively moderate one 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 the same. Lee Jae-myung believes that in an era dominated by AI and robots in production, the traditional assumption that “everyone can continue to work” is outdated. The technological dividends should not be monopolized by a few but should be shared by all.

Understanding Lee Jae-myung’s vision for UBI requires exploring the deeper philosophical reflections and insights of the times behind it. He sees it as a core solution to address social polarization, the impacts of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, consumption shrinkage, and to safeguard the economic rights of citizens. He believes that modern capitalism is facing a structural crisis, especially against the backdrop of technological innovation, where “jobless growth” and the wealth gap will be exacerbated. UBI stimulates consumption by increasing the income of the populace, creating a virtuous economic cycle, and possesses both welfare and economic stimulus characteristics.

In addition, Lee Jae-myung emphasized that UBI aims to guarantee that citizens enjoy the “basic economic rights” and lead a dignified life. He believes that when labor is no longer the only means of survival, the benefits 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 concept of UBI has a broad grassroots foundation in South Korean society, even giving rise to a political organization called the “Basic Income Party.” Founded in 2020, the party primarily grew its membership through the internet, with the slogan “600,000 won per month for everyone,” and they actually won a seat in the National Assembly in the subsequent elections.

At the same time, trials of other forms of income support are underway. In July 2022, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon launched a three-year, randomized, double-blind trial of “Safe Income,” a family-based negative income tax program, in his jurisdiction. Negative income tax is often seen as an important variant of UBI, and its core mechanism is that it needs to be taxed when income exceeds a certain tax threshold; If it is not exceeded, not only will it not be taxed, but it will be subsidized. What is even more surprising is that Lee’s political opponent, the People’s Power Party, has also included the concept of basic income in its party platform, clearly stating that “the state should support every citizen to live a safe and free life through basic income in order to cope with the coming era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”

All of this shows that UBI has moved from a fringe idea to a mainstream in South Korea. Nonetheless, the widespread implementation of UBI in South Korea and around the world still faces significant challenges, such as fiscal sustainability, social consensus, and political and administrative coordination. The future of Lee Jae-myung’s “basic society” is destined to depend not only on the superiority of ideas, but also on whether the problems of reality can be properly solved. Whatever the future holds, Lee’s relentless exploration of UBI has provided valuable lessons for social policy innovation in South Korea and around the world.

In an era where material production is extremely abundant and technology is sufficient to replace human labor, what is the ultimate measure of social progress? When 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 is dignified and valuable?

This may be his most profound political legacy— not definitive answers, but the eternal question of how humanity can maintain dignity and value amidst the torrent of technology.