Rep. Lee So-young said, "Electric vehicle subsidies... Hyundai Motor Group should not be subsidized for sales."

*This content was translated by AI.

Rep. Lee So-young (Democratic Party of Korea, Gyeonggi Province, Gwacheon City) participated in the National Assembly's Special Committee on Budget and Accounts held on the 8th, strongly criticizing the criteria for selecting electric vehicle subsidies to be implemented by the Ministry of Climate from July and demanding a review of the origin.

Rep. Lee pointed out that the criteria for selecting electric vehicle subsidies will be written in a positive way, which will clearly act as a barrier to entry into the market, and that there are many loopholes, such as subsidies being paid to a small number of government-selected business operators. In particular, less than 80 points out of 100 evaluation scores were excluded at all, calling for a review, saying that this is not a "negative method" that filters out low-income insolvent companies, but a "positive method" that only recognizes the top few.

The detailed evaluation index also pointed out irrationalities. "Corporate credit ratings, domestic business periods of more than five years, and domestic R&D investment of more than 50 billion won, in fact, do Hyundai and Kia only want to provide subsidies for electric vehicles?" he said, expressing doubts. Lawmaker Lee said, "The budget for electric vehicle supply policy should not be spent in the same way as subsidies for sales of certain companies."

Even among the corporate evaluation items subject to electric vehicle subsidies, "Which company can meet the criteria such as the history of developing disabled and fire-fighting vehicles and whether or not to carry out research projects at domestic public institutions?" Isn't this too blatant?" he said, expressing his problem with pinpointing subsidies for specific companies.

In conclusion, Rep. Lee So-young criticized the Ministry of Climate's criteria for selecting electric vehicle subsidies, which are set to take effect in July, as not only ignoring consumers' options, but also opposing the government's policy to expand the supply of 4.2 million electric vehicles by 2030. In addition, in the reality of Korea, which exports much more than imports, we cannot really hope that Korean companies will be treated properly overseas." Finally, he added that if the government artificially removes its competitors by means of subsidies, it will lose competitiveness in the long run.

Meanwhile, Minister of Climate, Energy, and Environment Kim Sung-hwan said, "We should have thoroughly reviewed it in advance... I didn't see the detailed allocation. I apologize. Competition and protection should be appropriate, but it does not properly reflect the purpose. Since it has been announced, we will review the allocation again," he said.

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*This content was translated by AI.