South Korea's President Says Growth Should Come Before Expanding Welfare

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung said on Wednesday that it is not realistic to pursue economic growth and expand welfare at the same time, and that the economy should be enlarged first rather than welfare expanded blindly. According to Sina Finance, Lee posted the remarks on his X account in response to a media column that said the South Korean government's next-year budget proposal was relatively short on spending related to "distribution." Lee wrote that giving up growth while expanding welfare must never happen, and said the ideal of pursuing growth and welfare in parallel is not realistic. He added that now is the inevitable time to focus on growth to expand the pie. Lee also insisted that the government has not cut welfare spending. He said that if South Korea fails to achieve sustained growth and instead moves toward zero growth or negative growth, economic polarization will worsen further and could even lead to lower welfare levels. Lee added that the government is paying attention to improving welfare policy, but that further measures will take more time.