Overview
- Investors sold Korean shares Tuesday after presidential policy chief Kim Yong-beom floated a citizen payout funded by AI-era gains, sending the Kospi down as much as 5.1% before it closed about 2.3% lower and dragging Samsung and SK Hynix into losses near 2% each.
- Cheong Wa Dae said Kim’s Facebook post reflected his personal view and not an official plan, and President Lee Jae Myung later accused some outlets of spreading false reports and restated that Kim was referring to excess tax revenue.
- Kim argued that AI-driven profits rest on decades of national industrial buildout and suggested channeling extra tax take into uses like startup grants for young people, basic income pilots in rural and fishing towns, support for artists, stronger pensions, and worker retraining, citing Norway’s oil fund as a model.
- The idea has become a political flash point as the opposition People Power Party urged Kim’s dismissal and the ruling party kept its distance, while Samsung’s union pressed for a bonus equal to 15% of operating profit and threatened an 18-day strike from May 21.
- Economists and business voices warned that labeling profits as “excess” could chill long-term chip investment, even as AI data center demand has produced record earnings for Samsung and SK Hynix and lifted government tax receipts that could be used for debt reduction or future industries.