President Lee Jae-myung on the 2nd said at the New Year's reception at Cheong Wa Dae that "only growth for all, in which everyone shares both opportunities and fruits together, is the shortcut that will lead the Republic of Korea to a great leap forward." Lee presided over the New Year's reception that day at the State Guest House at Cheong Wa Dae and invited in large numbers key figures from politics and business, including the five constitutional organs (the National Assembly speaker, the chief justice, the president of the Constitutional Court, the prime minister, and the chair of the National Election Commission), as well as representatives of the public.
Lee said, "Today, when the concentration of capital and the skewed distribution of opportunities hinder growth and lead to a vicious cycle of competition and conflict, we must boldly overhaul our existing growth strategy," presenting "growth for all" as the solution.
Lee also said, "The fruits of my growth, achieved through the capacities of the entire community and the public, must flow to small and midsize enterprises and venture firms and lead to changes in life that every single person can feel," adding, "As the nation grows stronger, we will be able to build a country of dreams and hope, a country of opportunity, where all the people grow together and large companies, small and midsize enterprises, and small business owners all coexist in mutual prosperity."
Lee also called for "national unity." "A society where people turn their backs on each other because they think differently, or where differences become the seeds of extreme confrontation, can never move forward," Lee said. "I am confident that when we seek the path of coexistence and harmony rather than fueling conflict, and when we weigh the responsibility of mutual prosperity as much as the speed of growth, our Republic of Korea can once again achieve a great leap."
Cheong Wa Dae also unveiled the artificial intelligence (AI) social robot "Riku" at the New Year's event that day. Riku is a smart AI robot independently developed by Toruk, a domestic company specializing in intelligent social robots. Designed to engage in emotional conversations with people, the robot is used in education and psychotherapy.
As representatives of the public, 11 people including professional gamer Lee Sang-hyeok (Faker) attended, and Lee conferred the Blue Dragon Order of Sports Merit. Lee also presented decorations to director Shin Woo-seok, producer of the promotional video for the Asia-Pacific Council on Economics (APCE) in Gyeongju; Kim Dong-hae, chair of the volunteer group Vision Care, which provides free surgeries for eye diseases; Kim Ui-jung, deputy director at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources who proposed the Korea-U.S. shipbuilding cooperation project MASGA (Make American Shipbuilding Great Again); and Kim Hae-in, a senior inspector at the Uljin Coast Guard, and Jin Jun-ho, a senior firefighter at the Gyeongju Fire Station, who carried out rescue activities at disaster sites such as wildfires.