South Korean President Lee Jae-myung Focuses on Advanced Technology and National Security Reform in First Anniversary

(Central News Agency, Seoul, 8th, Comprehensive Foreign Report) South Korean President Lee Jae-myung announced today that the government will strive to secure 'absolute competitiveness' in advanced technology fields, aiming to transform South Korea into an industrial powerhouse.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Lee outlined his administrative vision and policy goals for the second year of his term during a press conference marking his first anniversary in office. He was inaugurated as president on June 4th of last year.

Lee stated, 'The government will mobilize all resources from the public and private sectors to secure absolute competitiveness in advanced technology fields.' He also revealed that the government will soon announce a large-scale investment plan to achieve this goal.

He said this investment plan will bring about a fundamental change in the national growth strategy.

Lee also pointed out that beyond the semiconductor industry, the government will actively discover new industries that can serve as growth engines for future generations.

He emphasized that the 'fruits of growth' should not be concentrated only on specific companies, regions, or industries.

'The results and opportunities created through society's shared resources should be widely extended to small and medium-sized enterprises, startups, all regions across the country, and various industries, so that all citizens can feel the change,' he said.

Lee also pledged to strictly crack down on illegal activities such as stock price manipulation and real estate crimes, and to continuously push forward structural reforms to dismantle vested interest structures.

Regarding national security, Lee stated that the government will make every effort to achieve 'concrete results' on issues such as acquiring nuclear-powered submarines and retaking wartime operational control from the United States.

Furthermore, regarding the ballot shortage issue reported at some polling stations during last week's local elections, Lee criticized it as a 'very serious problem.'

He said the government will quickly investigate the National Election Commission to determine whether the incident was intentional or caused by structural issues.

When discussing the North Korean nuclear issue, Lee emphasized that under the overarching goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, the short-term priority should be to prevent Pyongyang from continuing to develop its nuclear weapons and missile programs.

He proposed three goals for short-term negotiations with North Korea: freezing nuclear material production, halting intercontinental ballistic missile technology development, and banning the export of nuclear materials.