President Lee: "Some Multicultural Family Policies Must Not Become Reverse Discrimination Against Domestic Families"

President Lee Jae-myung said on Thursday (October 29), "Ensuring that multicultural families do not face discrimination compared to domestic families is a necessary policy and should naturally continue," adding, "However, some policies going excessively beyond their original intent should not lead to privileges or become reverse discrimination against domestic families."

President Lee made the remarks on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday morning, writing, "Because the goal of support for the vulnerable in society is to restore equality by bridging gaps compared to the general average, it is essential to ensure that it does not become a privilege or unfair preferential treatment."

His remarks directly countered criticism raised from some quarters over his recent social media post concerning local governments' postpartum care center operating systems.

Earlier, President Lee cited a post the previous day from FM Korea, an online community with strong conservative leanings. The post argued that it was problematic for mothers from multicultural families and mothers of national merit recipients to share the same second-priority status in the reservation rankings for "Seoul-type safe postpartum care centers." Citing the post, he stated, "We will review whether there is a strong need to offer preferential treatment beyond ensuring that multicultural families are not disadvantaged, and whether preferential systems should be abolished."

In response, some raised criticism, asking, "Does this not mean rolling back support for multicultural families?" Questions were also raised over whether it was appropriate for the president to quote a post from an online community known for a specific ideological leaning.

In his post on Thursday, President Lee emphasized, "The essence of a problem does not change depending on who pointed it out, nor should it."

He added, "Excess in a specific policy undermines trust in public policy in general, so if there is an issue, it is right to promptly correct it regardless of who raised it."
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.