President Lee Jae Myung pledged to carry out sweeping fiscal reforms, pursue prosecutorial overhaul and deepen international partnerships in a message posted to his official Instagram account on Saturday.
Lee described the draft budget approved by his Cabinet the previous day as the largest restructuring of state expenditures in the nation’s history, aimed at both reviving growth and repairing public finances.
“We are improving the quality of debt that worsened under the previous government’s irresponsible fiscal management,” Lee said, adding that his administration would “normalize fiscal soundness” while keeping economic recovery at the forefront.
Lee also touted his recent summits with U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and said he had received reports from the Foreign Ministry on follow-up measures.
He thanked ministries that had been involved in preparations for the summits and announced plans to brief ruling and opposition leaders directly on the outcomes of his meetings with Trump and Ishiba in order to obtain bipartisan cooperation regarding his foreign policy agenda.
Lee further reiterated his call for prosecutorial reform, one of his signature policy goals. He said new mechanisms were needed to prevent abuses of power stemming from prosecutorial authority, while ensuring investigators could exercise their powers effectively.
The president further underscored the importance of energy cooperation with Turkmenistan, which holds the world’s fourth-largest natural gas reserves. He said he had spoken by phone with President Serdar Berdymukhamedov, thanking him for helping South Korean citizens safely return home via Turkmenistan during unrest in Iran in June.
According to Lee, the two leaders agreed to expand cooperation beyond energy and industrial projects. Lee added that he had requested greater support for Korean companies operating in the Central Asian state.
“Korea will fulfill its responsibilities on the international stage while addressing domestic challenges without neglect,” Lee wrote. “We will place the economy at the center of policy, focus on stabilizing livelihoods, and ensure that the people can see tangible results.”
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