The Presidential Committee on Policy Planning, which has been sketching out the policy blueprint for the Lee Jae-myung government for the next five years, will hold a public report meeting on the 13th to unveil 123 national tasks. The committee, which was launched in June, has been exploring the five-year national management plan and detailed implementation tasks of the Lee Jae-myung government over the past two months.
The committee has selected national tasks for five areas: political and social issues, economic and industrial matters, regional balance, welfare and culture, and diplomacy and security, based on the national vision of "a country where the people are the masters, where everyone is happy in Korea" and the national principles of "listening and integration, fairness and trust, practicality and results."
◇ Promoting a constitutional amendment… Creating a 100 trillion won national growth fund, prioritizing AI and energy highways
The constitutional amendment is expected to be presented as the core task in the political and social field. It is also known that strengthening democratic control over the military and reforming the prosecution and police will be proposed. The plan also includes strengthening local autonomy to enhance the quality of life for residents and ensuring that life and safety take precedence by improving disaster response and security.
In the economic sector, the focus will be on plans to leapfrog as a top three nation in artificial intelligence (AI) and establishing a 100 trillion won investment funds for high-tech strategic industries to support this. It is proposed that strengthening industrial competitiveness based on technological advancement, distributing the fruits of growth evenly to the people, and building a fair market will be the three pillars.
The 100 trillion won national growth fund will support the necessary funding and infrastructure investments for promising companies by combining high-tech innovation industry funds and future growth funds.
The committee has reportedly identified AI and energy highways as its priority tasks in the industrial sector. Just as the construction of the Gyeongbu Expressway in the 1970s laid the foundation for industrialization and the establishment of high-speed internet in the late 1990s drove digital transformation, the plan is to establish AI and energy highways as a new engine of future growth.
To address the systemic issues caused by the widening distance between major power sources and industrial complexes in the expansion of renewable energy, the completion of the West Coast energy highway is expected to be pursued by 2030. In the power market, a system will be established to match supply and demand by integrating AI.
Regarding social welfare policies, it is reported that the slogan of "a basic society that cares for the lives of the people" aims to provide comprehensive welfare benefits from birth to old age. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family will be restructured to enhance its role in responding to digital sex crimes.
◇ K-culture market to grow to 300 trillion... Promoting copyright transfer and resumption of inter-Korean talks
The committee is expected to propose fostering the cultural industry to grow the "K-culture market" to 300 trillion won and aims to increase the number of foreign tourists visiting Korea to 30 million. It will also push for the establishment of a "Cultural Power Commission" as an organization to nurture arts and culture.
In the field of diplomacy and security, the core task will be to announce the completion of the transfer of operational control during the term. However, there are concerns that hasty implementation of this issue could lead to security gaps, given its foundational role in Korea's security.
Recently, Xavier Brunson, the Commander of the United States Forces Korea and the Combined Forces Command, expressed concern, stating, "If a shortcut is taken to hasten the transfer of operational control, it may jeopardize the readiness of forces on the Korean Peninsula."
A major shift in inter-Korean relations is also presented as a key national task. It involves rebooting the currently halted inter-Korean communication channel and resuming inter-Korean talks, civilian exchanges, and humanitarian cooperation. It is expected to include plans to establish a foundation for peaceful coexistence between the two Koreas through the signing of a basic inter-Korean agreement.
However, the ongoing situation is not easy for the restoration of inter-Korean relations, given that past agreements made by previous governments have been unilaterally annulled by North Korea, which still maintains a negative stance on inter-Korean dialogue.
The policy for balanced regional growth will propose the '5 poles and 3 special' policy based on decentralization. This concept divides the entire nation, including the metropolitan area, into five major regions to serve as growth hubs, and aims to enhance autonomy by designating Gangwon, Jeonbuk, and Jeju as 'special autonomous provinces' as part of the Lee Jae-myung government's regional balanced growth plan. The functions of the Presidential Committee for Decentralization and Balanced Development will be strengthened, and a national balanced growth strategy meeting will also be established to discuss regional growth discourse.
◇ "National task funding 210 trillion"… Increase revenue by 94 trillion and reduce expenditure by 116 trillion
How will the funding for implementing these policies be secured? The committee plans to propose that 210 trillion won in financing is needed for the implementation of national tasks. Over the next five years, this funding will be secured through an increase in revenue of 94 trillion won and a reduction of 116 trillion won in expenditure. This means raising revenue by 19 trillion won and cutting expenditures by 23 trillion won annually.
According to the first tax reform plan announced by the Ministry of Economy and Finance last month, the estimated increase in tax revenue over the next five years due to this year's reforms is 36 trillion won. This implies that an additional plan to secure 58 trillion won in revenue is necessary to realize this national task.
Structuring a 23 trillion won annual reduction in expenditure is not an easy task. The scale of expenditure restructuring typically achieved by the Ministry of Economy and Finance during the budget formulation process is around 10 trillion won. Increasing this restructuring efforts to more than double indicates that the government must implement historically unprecedented levels of stringent expenditure reorganization each year.
Advocating for additional stringent expenditure cuts the following year after having already undergone one round of rigorous expenditure restructuring has drawn criticism for its lack of realism. An anonymous source, who previously served as the budget director at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, remarked, "The level of expenditure reduction achieved during the maximum stringent expenditure restructuring historically was 24 trillion won," adding, "Implementing such a level of expenditure restructuring each year is not a realistically easy task."