South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called for a review of benefits for multicultural families, saying support can continue while specific rules that may be unfair are reconsidered.
Lee wrote on X Saturday, according to The Korea Herald: “Just because a general principle is right does not mean every specific policy based on it is also right.” He said support for multicultural families remains necessary, but individual measures that are unreasonable or may cause reverse discrimination should be corrected, the paper reported.
The dispute concerns priority access at government-run postpartum care centers and additional points in daycare admissions. The Korea Herald reported that Lee questioned Wednesday whether multicultural families should receive priority access to postpartum care centers.
The paper said the presidential office presented Lee’s position as a call to assess whether particular benefits are appropriately targeted, rather than a proposal to withdraw support for multicultural families.
Lee also asked policymakers and the public to examine the reasons behind criticism of political correctness, concerns about perceived double standards and partisan rhetoric, the paper reported. He argued that officials should discuss contentious choices openly, instead of letting controversy silence debate or moving decisions out of public view.
The debate follows an existing review of postpartum-care priorities. EconoTimes previously reported that officials were considering changes to a decade-old ranking framework, including possible legal revisions and input from local governments, in its coverage of the postpartum-care rules review.
