A senior South Korean policymaker has proposed redistributing tax revenue generated by the country's AI semiconductor boom to ordinary citizens as a “dividend,” rattling stock markets on the same day that Samsung's union bonus talks showed no sign of resolution, according to Bloomberg.
Kim Yong-beom, presidential chief of staff for policy, floated the idea of a "national dividend" in a Facebook post late Monday, writing that gains from the AI infrastructure era were built on an industrial foundation the entire nation accumulated over half a century. The benchmark Kospi index fell as much as 5.1% before recovering to close down 2.3% after Kim clarified he was referring to excess tax revenue rather than a new windfall levy on corporate profits. A government official confirmed to the outlet that the government is not considering any such plans, and that the comments were Kim's personal opinion.
