[비즈한국] Since taking office, President Lee Jae-myung has spent the last six months presiding over or attending various meetings and events every day. Among the meetings President Lee has attended while traveling domestically and internationally, about 46 have been related to the economy. While his economic meetings during the first three months of his term primarily focused on assessing the economic situation, his focus thereafter shifted toward chairing meetings on high-tech industries and meeting with international artificial intelligence (AI) leaders. Immediately after his inauguration, he focused on blocking the economic fallout from last December's emergency martial law, but as he passed the three-month mark, the center of gravity for President Lee's economic policy shifted toward finding future growth drivers.
According to the Presidential Office, President Lee's 'Administrative Order No. 1' on June 4, the day of his inauguration, was to instruct the formation of an Emergency Economic Response Task Force (TF). That evening, he presided over the first meeting for over two hours, asking participants about measures to respond to economic and public livelihood issues, as well as the fiscal capacity for a supplementary budget and its potential economic stimulus effects.
Five days later, on the morning of June 9, he held the second Emergency Economic Inspection TF meeting to discuss livelihood issues such as inflation and the preparation of a supplementary budget. On the 11th, he visited the Korea Exchange Market Oversight Commission, and on the 13th, he held a meeting with six economic organizations and business leaders. In the immediate aftermath of taking office, he focused on monitoring the trends of the real economy and financial markets.
This trend in President Lee's activities continued into July; on the 25th, he visited the SPC Samlip factory, the site of a major industrial accident, and urged the relevant ministries to manage on-site safety facilities and systems, while also calling on management to prioritize safety. On the 30th, he held the third Emergency Economic Inspection TF meeting, instructing government officials to take the lead in restoring corporate vitality and expanding the investment climate, while expressing his intent to launch an Economic Penalty Rationalization TF.
In August, he discussed fiscal issues at a national budget-saving meeting on the 13th, followed by a meeting on the 19th with economic groups and business leaders who accompanied him on his visits to the United States and Japan. Additionally, during his visit to the U.S. on the 26th, he attended the Korea-U.S. Business Roundtable immediately following the bilateral summit, delivering a keynote speech calling for cooperation between companies from both nations.
President Lee’s visits to economic sites continued thereafter, but starting in September, his focus shifted toward high-tech industries. After chairing a bio-innovation debate on the 5th and calling for a "leap forward as a global bio powerhouse," he held the inauguration ceremony for the National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy Committee on the 8th, directing them to "serve as the command center leading South Korea to become one of the world's top 3 AI powerhouses." On the 17th, he held a youth startup concert, promising government investment support by stating, "The core of the future economy lies in brilliant ideas and creative technology."
In October, he accelerated his high-tech industry agenda by meeting a series of AI moguls. On the 1st, President Lee met with Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, a leader in the AI field, at the Presidential Office. During this meeting, President Lee and CEO Altman agreed to cooperate in promoting the national AI transformation and ecosystem development through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Ministry of Science and ICT and OpenAI. On the 29th, he met with Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world's largest cloud computing service company, in Gyeongju.
Welcoming CEO Garman, who announced plans to build an AI data center in the Incheon-Gyeonggi region worth $5 billion by 2031, President Lee stated, "The Korean government aims to leap into the top 3 global AI powers and is actively pushing to build an 'AI Expressway' that allows AI to be utilized anytime in industrial and research settings." He added, "Amazon's decision to make an additional large-scale investment in an AI data center will further accelerate the development of Korea's AI ecosystem."
In November, he visited the Korea Institute of Fusion Energy in Daejeon on the 7th to meet with young scientists, encouraging their challenges by saying, "We will spare no support or investment so that you can pave the way for innovation." On December 5, he met with SoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son at the Presidential Office to seek suggestions and advice regarding the government's push to become one of the top 3 AI powers. On the 10th, he presided over a briefing on the vision and cultivation strategy for K-semiconductors in the AI era, announcing an investment plan of over 700 trillion won by 2047 to propel Korea to become one of the world's top 2 semiconductor powers. As President Lee has described the 2026 budget as the "first budget for the Republic of Korea to open the AI era," his focus on high-tech industries is expected to continue next year.