Lee Jae-myung, “Why Can’t They Deduct 68.5 Billion Won of Interest on Student Loans, When They’re Cutting Taxes for the Super-rich?”

Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Jae-myung holds an emergency press conference on President Yoon Suk-yeol’s comment hinting at the supply of weapons to Ukraine at the National Assembly on April 21. Bak Min-gyu, Senior Reporter

On April 24, Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Jae-myung said, “I can’t understand why they refuse to deduct 68.5 billion won of interest on student loans, when they’re cutting trillions of won in taxes annually for the super-rich.”

Lee continued to write on social media Monday, “It’s only 68.5 billion won a year. Can’t they do the math?”

Lee also attached an article titled, “Bill on Interest Deductions for College Students that Lee Jae-myung Vowed to Push Through, Impossible to Calculate the Necessary Budget” to his post. The article conveyed the position of the National Assembly Budget Office, which claimed “At present, it is impossible to rationally estimate how much expenditures will increase due to the amendment.”

The Democratic Party wants to exempt students from paying interest on student loans by revising the Special Act on Income Contingent Loan. They want to deduct the interest on student loans until the student gets a job and secures a certain amount of annual income. Also, even if the student’s income level exceeds the standard for deductions, they want to exempt the student from paying interest when she postpones the principal payment due to a cessation of business, unemployment, or parental leave.

On April 22, Lee also mentioned how the U.S. was even writing off the principal of student loans on social media and said, “We will deduct the interest on student loans, even if we have to unilaterally push it through.” At the same time, he asked, “Do the PPP (People Power Party) and the Yoon (Yoon Suk-yeol) government have a conscience?” and asked why it was all right to cut tens of trillions of won in taxes for the super-rich, but not okay to reduce the interest on student loans.

The People Power Party is opposing the amendment, accusing it of populism. Lawmaker Lee Tae-kyu, the PPP secretary in the parliamentary Education Committee wrote a post titled, “A Refutation of Lee’s Argument” on social media and argued, “They’re trying to exempt students from paying interest on student loans and living expense loans for people in eight of the ten income brackets. A person in the eighth income bracket has a monthly household income of over 10 million won.” He further said, “If we narrow down the range of people receiving benefits and focus on the working class, we will be able to provide more scholarships and benefits to young people and college students in difficult situations.”