Kim Kyeong-soo, a candidate for the Democratic Party of Korea in the presidential primary, said on the 21st, "I will promote a 'basic livelihood guarantee system' that ensures a minimum income for all citizens at 40% of the median income."
On the morning of the same day, the candidate held a press conference in the National Assembly communication hall to announce pledges in the fields of social, political, and diplomatic-security, stating, "I promise a zero extreme poverty era and a dignified advanced country."
He announced pledges in the area of social integration, saying, "We will become a sustainable advanced country based on trust." Specifically, he proposed ▲promoting the basic livelihood guarantee system ▲expanding income-based national income insurance covering all citizens ▲integrating care insurance for nursing facilities and nursing hospitals ▲deploying care managers at the local level and strengthening public medical care ▲completing the Korean-style national and private university coalition system.
Candidate Kim first stated, "I will ensure appropriate income so that no one experiences extreme poverty at any stage of life."
As for specific funding solutions, he explained, "About 28 trillion won is needed for the basic livelihood guarantee system to be implemented; however, since it is unnecessary for some parts of the basic livelihood guarantee system and basic pension to continue, we only need to secure about 15 trillion won more," adding that, "The tax cut size of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration exceeds 80 trillion won, so it can be achieved with just a portion of that."
Furthermore, Candidate Kim said, "I will significantly develop the national employment insurance, which started during the Moon Jae-in administration, into an income-based national income insurance instead of qualification-based employment insurance," and stated, "The burden of care that has been passed on to individuals and families will also be taken on by the state."
He added, "Through five regional mega-cities, we will link and develop living infrastructure such as education, industry, and healthcare," stating, "I will focus investments on regional base national universities with the goal of creating 10 Seoul National Universities."
Regarding pledges in the political and diplomatic-security fields, he mentioned ▲introducing a presidential runoff voting system and a joint nomination system ▲abolishing the political prosecution and separating the prosecution’s investigation and indictment functions ▲reforming the military service system into a mixed draft and recruitment system ▲transforming the Ministry of Unification into a Ministry of Peace and Cooperation ▲institutionalizing a bipartisan diplomatic and security strategy committee.
In particular, Candidate Kim noted, "Due to population decline, it will be difficult to maintain the current conscription system in the near future. Proactive responses are needed to transition to a sustainable military structure while maintaining security capabilities," stating, "I will gradually reduce the active duty military personnel from 500,000 to 350,000 and immediately promote a mixed enlistment-recruitment system to secure the insufficient conscripts."
When asked whether to expand the scope of the recruitment system to include women and what the differences from other candidates are, he responded, "I believe it is possible to expand the scope of the recruitment system. The difference from other candidates is that I can immediately promote the mixed system."
Lee Jeong-cheol, a professor at Seoul National University in charge of diplomacy, security, and unification in the campaign, said, "The goal is to reduce the total military personnel to 350,000, but depending on the situation, maintaining 400,000 is also possible," adding that, "If the military size is 400,000, an additional budget of 4 trillion won is needed, but if it is reduced to 350,000, there will be room even within the current budget level."