Seoul mayor promotes city's welfare polices in Yale lecture

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon delivers a lecture about his major policies that support the disadvantaged in Seoul at Yale University's MacMillan Center in New Haven on Thursday. [SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT]

NEW HAVEN — Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon highlighted his philosophy of selective welfare in a lecture he delivered in English at Yale University.

Oh’s lecture on Thursday came as part of his weeklong trip to North America that ended Friday.

Some 200 students crammed into the Henry R. Luce Hall at Yale University’s MacMillan Center in Connecticut to hear the Seoul mayor.

Delivering his entire presentation in English, Oh said he believes “it’s far better to help the needy by teaching them how to fish, and not just giving them a fish itself.”

Oh shared some of his major policies to help the disadvantaged, such as the Seoul Learn academic assistance program, the Seoul Safety Income Project, the public health care system and liberal arts courses for low-income families.

The special lecture was held at the invitation of the Council on East Asian Studies and moderated by Erik Harms, an anthropology professor at Yale.

Seoul Learn offers those in need access to online courses and mentors free of charge. According to Oh, a total of 461 participants were accepted to universities through the program in just over a year since it began.

The Seoul Safety Income Project offers cash supplements every month to individuals who earn below a certain level, with payments graduated according to need.

The mayor also introduced the city’s recently announced “climate companion card,” a transportation card that lets people take unlimited rides in the city for 65,000 won ($49) a month.

Regarding his latest policies, one student observed that the mayor has supported selective welfare a decade ago while seemingly supporting universal welfare now with initiatives like the climate companion card.

“I am still on the side that I should help the poor only,” Oh said.

“I believe the latest transportation pass is also a measure for the poor as it will benefit the poor more over those who use personal vehicles.”

Oh resigned from office as mayor in 2011 after he lost a referendum to abolish free school launches for all regardless of family income.

Other students asked Oh about gender equality issues. The mayor said women’s rights in Korea are improving very quickly and he believes that “gender equality will be practically reached in the next decade.”

However, Oh said that while the city government has striven to make almost half of its high-ranking officials women, Korean society needs to work harder to raise the glass ceiling in business and politics.

When asked about the solutions for the country’s low fertility rate by the session’s moderator, Oh said immigration may be a solution.

“It is a very sensitive issue in Korea so I don’t really mention it, but recently, immigration has been rising as a potential solution, as well as education.”

Korea’s fertility rate dropped to a record low of 0.78, the lowest among OECD countries last year, with Seoul posting the lowest rate among Korean cities at 0.59.

Oh’s visit to Yale University comes about 25 years since he stayed at the university as a visiting scholar in 1998.

Prior to the lecture, he met with Peter Salovey, the president of Yale University, and shared his experience at Yale as a visiting scholar and learned about some of Yale's educational measures.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]