Anchor: President Lee Jae-myung has called for bipartisan cooperation to approve his 2026 spending plan, which would expand South Korea’s artificial intelligence infrastructure and modernize the military’s weapons systems to achieve self-reliance. Lee’s budget request for fiscal year 2026 is 728 trillion won.
Rosyn Park has more.

Report: President Lee Jae Myung delivered his second budget speech to the National Assembly on Tuesday, outlining his administration’s proposed spending plan for next year worth 728 trillion won, or roughly 506 billion U.S. dollars, up eight-point-one percent from this year.

He said it will be the first budget to usher in an artificial intelligence(AI) era for South Korea, stressing that the technology's evolution is inevitable.

Lee explained that ten-point-one trillion won, or about seven billion dollars, which is more than triple this year’s budget, is earmarked for AI-related spending as part of his goal to make South Korea a top-three powerhouse in the field.

At the same time, he promised to increase next year's defense budget by eight-point-two percent from this year and foster the defense industry as the main manufacturing sector in the AI era.

Noting that South Korea is the world’s fifth-largest military power, Lee said that relying on external forces for defense hurts national pride.

Lee emphasized that the spending plan also reflects efforts to bridge the gap caused by new technological advances and protect the lives and safety of the people.

In addition, he told lawmakers that the recently finalized tariff deal with the U.S. has eased economic uncertainty.

Lee asked for bipartisan cooperation to pass the annual budget before the December 2 deadline.
Rosyn Park, KBS World Radio News.