South Korean president Lee Jae-Myung Jong-eun stressed the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in a Policy Address to Parliament Tuesday, saying the government’s 2026 budget is the first national budget to start the AI era, Yonhap reported, and called on Congress to work across party lines to deal with the budget in a timely manner.
South Korean president Lee Jae-myung addresses Parliament in Seoul, November 4,2010. Visual China
Yonhap news agency reported that Lee Jae-myung’s speech lasted about 22 minutes. Yonhap said most of Lee Jae-myung’s 12-page speech was devoted to emphasising the strategic need to invest in AI to ensure the country’s survival in the turbulent international trade order. Lee Jae-myung said that next year was a historic starting point for the AI era and the country’s new 100-year journey. The government’s 2026 budget is up 8.1 percent from this year to WON728 trillion, of which Won10.1 trillion will be used to push the AI transition. Lee Jae-myung stressed that this was a future budget for an AI-centric response to the Korean crisis.
Lee Jae-myung also said the government would upgrade its traditional weapons system to a state-of-the-art weapons system adapted to the AI era, and rapidly promote the development of an “Intelligent and powerful army” to boost its defence force in a new era, achieve“Independent national defense”. The government has budgeted 35.3 trillion won for r & D of CORE Technologies in advanced strategic industries such as AI, cultural and creative industries and defense industries, the largest in history.