President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a meeting with senior aides at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Jan. 29, 2026. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jan. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — President Lee Jae Myung on Thursday called for a rapid strengthening of South Korea’s social safety net, warning that the accelerating spread of artificial intelligence is already unsettling workers and deepening anxieties about the future of jobs.
Speaking at a meeting with senior aides at the presidential office, Lee said the country must prepare more deliberately for what he described as an unavoidable technological transition.
“We cannot stop the enormous wheel rolling toward us,” he said. “In the end, we have no choice but to adapt — and to do so quickly.”
His remarks reflected mounting concern across South Korean society that the adoption of A.I. technologies could widen inequality even as it boosts productivity. Lee pointed to recent resistance from a labor union at Hyundai Motor, which has opposed the introduction of A.I.-powered humanoid robots on production lines, as an early sign of the unease spreading through the industrial workforce.
The president said debates that once seemed theoretical are now becoming urgent policy questions.
During his tenure as mayor of Seongnam, a city south of Seoul, Lee had advocated expanding basic social protections — proposals that were once viewed as politically ambitious. On Thursday, he suggested that the rapid advance of A.I. had shifted public opinion.
“There is growing agreement that basic social policies are necessary to prepare for extreme polarization in an A.I.-driven society,” he said.
Lee warned of a labor market increasingly divided between those who own technology and capital and those left to compete for low-paid work — or for jobs that machines cannot perform.
“If this is the world that will inevitably arrive,” he said, “we must prepare for it, even if only step by step.”
He argued that government policy should focus on widening access to education and retraining, enabling more people to participate in production by using A.I. as a tool rather than being displaced by it.
Beyond technology policy, Lee pressed his aides to move faster on legislation and major administrative initiatives, saying delays risked eroding public confidence.
“Whether it is coordinating with the National Assembly or implementing policy, things must move more swiftly,” he said, adding that the backlog of unresolved tasks had become so large that it sometimes kept him awake at night.
While Lee did not name specific bills, his comments came as South Korea faces intensifying pressure from Washington to accelerate legislative procedures tied to a bilateral trade agreement reached in October. The deal includes Seoul’s pledge to invest $350 billion in the United States, an arrangement that requires parliamentary approval to take full effect.
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump announced plans to raise so-called reciprocal tariffs on South Korean goods — including automobiles, lumber and pharmaceuticals — from 15 percent to 25 percent, citing delays in South Korea’s legislative follow-through.
The episode has added urgency to Lee’s call for speed, underscoring how domestic political gridlock and global economic diplomacy are becoming increasingly intertwined in an era shaped not only by artificial intelligence, but by rising geopolitical pressure as well.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
