President Lee Jae-myung stirred controversy by stating that foreign workers do not significantly benefit the national economy, claiming they send their wages "entirely back home."
During a State Council meeting at the Blue House on October 27, President Lee instructed Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Chung Mi-ryeong to explore ways to support domestic agricultural workers with a living wage. In this context, he remarked, "Bringing in foreign workers does not greatly help the national economy, as they send all their wages back home."
According to reports from outlets like Hankyoreh, migrant worker organizations criticized this statement as a "hateful remark that ignores reality."
A report from the National Data Agency published in December last year, titled '2025 Immigration Status and Employment Survey' (as of May 2025), indicated that for non-professional employment (E-9) foreign workers (321,000 individuals), remittances accounted for 56.5% of their total income, while living expenses were 20.3%, savings 11.6%, housing costs 3.0%, and other expenses 8.5%. The report did not separately list agricultural seasonal workers.
The government has been increasing foreign labor in the agricultural sector, with plans to allocate 102,104 foreign workers to agriculture in the first half of this year.
On the evening of October 27, President Lee clarified on X that while foreign workers do contribute to the domestic economy, their impact is not as significant compared to domestic workers, describing his earlier comments as "comparative language." He pointed out that the word 'greatly' was omitted from the Hankyoreh article's headline and requested a correction and apology, which the publication subsequently made.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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