▲ President Lee Jae-myung
Regarding preferential treatment systems for multicultural families, President Lee Jae-myung stated today (October 30), "If controversies arise over issues such as unfair preferential treatment beyond restoring equality, there must be an in-depth review of those concerns."
President Lee wrote these remarks on X (formerly Twitter), linking to a news report showing that multicultural mothers using the preferential treatment system at public postpartum care centers—a policy he recently announced plans to review—account for only around 2 percent.
President Lee emphasized, "Fairness is a core value of state administration, and fairness is unrelated to whether a quantity is large or small. Just because an amount or quantity is small does not mean it is acceptable to be unfair."
He added, "The purpose of supporting multicultural families is to secure equality with domestic families by compensating for and rectifying discriminatory elements stemming from the characteristics of multicultural families that differ from domestic families."
President Lee explained, "Support for cultural adaptation, bilingual education, and community participation are essential policies to address vulnerabilities specific to multicultural families, and policies to identify and reinforce other vulnerabilities must continue to be expanded and strengthened."
He continued, "Opinions pointing out issues with priority rights—such as preferential placement in public daycares or postpartum care centers, where it is difficult to find a reason why multicultural families must take precedence over domestic families without exception—are fully worth considering and reviewing."
His remarks came as he pushed back for a second consecutive day against criticism that he was 'scaling back support for multicultural families,' following his recent comments suggesting the need to review whether preferential treatment for multicultural mothers at local government postpartum care centers should be abolished.
President Lee also pointed out, "The assertion that all multicultural families are struggling and therefore should receive priority and preferential treatment in welfare and social policies must first be verified to see if it matches reality."
He added, "This is because there are plenty of multicultural families that do not struggle, such as those married to professionals from developed nations," noting, "If poverty is the issue, they can be treated the same as impoverished domestic families."
He continued, "Since social and welfare policies are a shared burden for the entire community and there are citizens who face relative disadvantages, we must fill in shortfalls during policy formulation and implementation while giving delicate consideration to ensure that excess or unfairness does not occur."
President Lee stated, "Not all multicultural families agree with treating all multicultural families as vulnerable groups," adding, "It is more important for multicultural families to be integrated into society rather than set apart, but if multicultural families are treated as inherently vulnerable without exception, the emphasis ends up being placed on division."
He explained, "Even to defend and protect against far-right agitation intentionally designed to provoke hatred and hostility toward multicultural families, we must minimize any pretext for attack and agitation. This is because unreasonable or unfair elements, whether big or small, and areas that can cause controversy through excessive or unwarranted preferential treatment can become a pretext for far-right attacks and agitation against multicultural families."
He also added, "To guarantee the sustainability of any social welfare policy, it must fall within a range acceptable upon rational judgment by those who incur harm or loss," stating, "I look forward to deeper and broader discussions."
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