The ruling and opposition parties on the 4th continued to spar over whether the government's large-scale regional investment initiative, the "three mega projects," has a political purpose. This came even after President Lee Jae-myung said directly that the mega projects are not a political tool to manage approval ratings, as the opposition camp kept arguing they are "a political tool rolled out ahead of the Democratic Party of Korea's national convention."
On the 4th, President Lee Jae-myung said on X, formerly Twitter, "If the three mega projects were a political tool to manage approval ratings, they would have started before the local elections." It appeared to rebut the People Power Party's claim that the three mega projects were "a hastily assembled political show to cover up the Democratic Party of Korea's national convention and political crisis."
Lee said, "From right after my inauguration, I have asked the business community to cooperate on large-scale local investment and development for balanced growth, but progress was slow until the recent structural, long-term and explosive positive reorganization of the AI semiconductor industry coincided to make large-scale local investment possible."
He added, "Approval ratings matter, but what matters more are outcomes and a record that improve people's lives," and "Approval ratings are like the wind — they come and go and can be strong or weak — but results and performance are like mountains and do not change easily," adding, "It has long been my view that approval ratings naturally follow outcomes and performance."
Park Sung-hoon, senior spokesperson for the People Power Party, called this "brazen sophistry and a desperate attempt to hide the sky with one's palm." Park said, "If it had been released before the local elections, a nationwide fairness controversy and fierce backlash from other regions would have caused a fatal headwind in the elections, so didn't they announce it as if they had been waiting the moment the elections were over?"
He continued, "The three mega projects are nothing but a shallow trick to stir up Honam voters and try to get pro-Myung faction Kim Min-seok, the former prime minister, elected (as party leader) to shore up their regime," adding, "If they reduce the future growth engines of the Republic of Korea to a tool for defending the regime's approval ratings and promoting political events, the harm will fall squarely on the public and corporations."
Lee Jun-seok, leader of the Reform Party, also said in a Facebook post, "The president knew how a Honam-focused investment plan would look to other regions if rolled out before the local elections," adding, "That's why it was brought out ahead of the Democratic Party's national convention, where Honam members make up a large share." He added, "Corporations should be the ones drawing semiconductor sites on the map of the Republic of Korea, but the government drew them on the Democratic Party's convention calendar."
The Democratic Party of Korea countered that the government's three mega projects are a regional balanced development strategy and said it would actively push legislative support. Floor spokesperson Lee Ju-hee said in a written briefing, "The three mega projects are a national gamble to transform the entire territory into a Korea-style Silicon Valley," adding, "This is about turning the axis of growth, which for decades tilted toward the greater Seoul area, back to the provinces."
She added, "Now it's the National Assembly's turn to respond," and said, "So that the public's expectations lead to jobs and vitality in people's livelihoods, the Democratic Party will firmly back the path to a 'non-substitutable Republic of Korea' with swift legislation and solid budgets."