'Not as much': Lee clarifies remark on foreign workers' contribution to economy
The president pushed back on reporting that he said there was no contribution compared to Korean workers, while liberal parties denounced any comparison.
President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the Blue House on Oct. 27.JOINT PRESS CORPS
President Lee Jae Myung clarified that he said foreign workers do not contribute "as much" to the national economy as Korean workers, rather than not contributing at all, after facing criticism over his remarks.
Lee made the clarification in a post on X on Tuesday, taking issue with a Hankyoreh article that ran with a headline saying he was being criticized over remarks that foreign workers do not contribute to the national economy.
"There is a big difference between saying 'do not contribute' and 'do not contribute as much,'" Lee wrote. "I trust that, as a news organization committed to fair and accurate reporting, you will correct the article and issue an apology."
The Hankyoreh has since revised its headline to say that foreign workers do not contribute "as much" to the economy.
"Given the context of my remarks, it is clear that I was making a comparison — that foreign workers do contribute to the economy, but not as much as Korean workers," Lee added in another X post the same day. "It is excessive to criticize my remarks based on the premise that I said they do not contribute at all."
During a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Lee made the remarks while discussing public-sector jobs.
"We need to keep the agriculture, forestry, livestock and fisheries sectors alive," Lee said. "Even if we bring in foreign workers to do the jobs, they don't contribute as much to the national economy because they send all their wages back home."
A coalition of migrant workers' rights groups issued a statement criticizing Lee's remarks.
"It is difficult to understand on what grounds he claims that foreign workers contribute less to the national economy than Korean workers," the coalition said. "Even if it was intended as a comparison, we strongly condemn such hateful remarks suggesting that foreign workers are of no help."
The coalition also disputed Lee's claim that migrant workers send all their wages to their home countries, citing a 2025 government survey on the living and employment conditions of immigrants in Korea.
President Lee Jae Myung, center, chairs a Cabinet meeting at the Blue House on Oct. 27.YONHAP
The survey found that remittances accounted for 25.5 percent of foreign nationals' total income, lower than the 37.3 percent spent on living expenses.
Progressive parties also called on Lee to apologize for his remarks about foreign workers.
"Disparaging migrant workers reflects both ignorance and a dereliction of duty on the part of the country's top leader," Lee Hyun-jin, chair of the Rebuilding Korea Party's labor committee, said in a statement Wednesday. "These outrageous remarks, rooted in ignorance and prejudice, could never have come from someone who had taken even a single proper look at the harsh realities of Korea's workplaces."
"There is not a single industry that can keep its gears turning without migrant workers, from agriculture to manufacturing, construction sites, shipyards, foundational industries and the care sector," she added. "They are essential workers who quietly support the Korean economy from the ground up."
She also criticized President Lee for treating foreign workers as a burden and pitting people against one another.
"The president must immediately apologize to migrant workers at industrial sites and to the public, and establish effective work force and workplace accident prevention measures to end the disproportionate exposure of migrant workers to occupational hazards," she added.
Progressive Party spokesperson Hong Seong-gyu speaks at a National Assembly briefing in Seoul on Dec. 15, 2025.NEWS1
Hong Seong-kyu, a spokesperson for the Progressive Party, also criticized Lee's remarks, calling them "hate speech against migrant workers."
"Rather than honestly acknowledging his mistake and apologizing, he once again took to social media to demand a correction and an apology from the press over the omission of the words 'as much,'" Hong said. "That is an even more inappropriate act."
Kim Na-yul, a spokesperson for the Justice Party, said "The president of Korea must not take the lead in making migrant workers seem like people who can be treated with disrespect."
"It is downright insulting to see the country's head of state actively engaging in politics of hate that stigmatizes minority groups as beneficiaries of special privileges," Kim added.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
