President Lee Jae Myung delivers his budget speech during a plenary session of the National Assembly in Seoul on Nov. 4, 2025. Seats of the main opposition People Power Party are empty as they boycotted Lee’s speech. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Nov. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — President Lee Jae Myung pledged on Tuesday to accelerate South Korea’s path toward a self-reliant military and expand its defense capabilities, while renewing calls for dialogue with North Korea amid growing regional uncertainty.
“We will significantly strengthen our national defense and realize the vision of self-reliant defense,” Lee said in his first budget address to the National Assembly since taking office in June. “Our people’s pride will be diminished if we continue to depend on others for our own security.”
Lee said the government aims to build a “smart and strong” military by integrating artificial intelligence into defense operations. His administration’s proposed 2026 budget allocates 66.3 trillion won ($46 billion) for defense—an 8.2 percent increase from this year—focused on upgrading conventional weapons and advancing autonomous and digital warfare systems.
The president also reaffirmed his pledge to regain wartime operational control from the United States before the end of his term in 2030. “Relying on external forces for our defense is an issue that undermines our national dignity,” he said.
On inter-Korean relations, Lee repeated his commitment to restoring trust and easing military tensions. He said his government would pursue peace through the so-called END initiative, which stands for “exchanges, normalization, and denuclearization.”
“Building peace on the Korean Peninsula begins with dialogue,” Lee said, adding that Seoul would make “bold efforts” to create the conditions for talks. North Korea has yet to respond to Lee’s repeated offers for engagement.
Lee also pointed to “progress” in discussions with Washington over nuclear fuel supplies for South Korea’s plan to develop nuclear-powered submarines. His remarks came days after U.S. President Donald Trump approved a deal allowing the vessels to be built in a South Korean-owned shipyard in the United States.
President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands during a presidential state dinner hosted by Lee in the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Hotel in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, on October 29. (Yonhap)
The president praised recent economic agreements with both the U.S. and China, signaling a pragmatic approach to foreign policy. He said the newly concluded tariff deal with Washington would ensure “a level playing field” for Korean exports such as automobiles and semiconductors, while his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping “fully restored” bilateral ties and reaffirmed both countries’ roles as “strategic cooperative partners.”
During that summit, Seoul and Beijing signed a currency swap line worth 70 trillion won ($48.6 billion) and six memorandums of understanding on economic cooperation and crime prevention.
Lee described his administration’s diplomatic performance during the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit as “the best possible outcome under the toughest conditions,” pledging to continue pursuing “pragmatic diplomacy centered on national interest.”
The president’s 728 trillion-won budget plan for 2026—a year-on-year increase of 8.1 percent—reflects an aggressive pivot toward artificial intelligence. He announced 10.1 trillion won in funding for AI development, tripling last year’s amount, with a goal of positioning South Korea among the world’s top three AI powers.
The government plans to acquire an additional 15,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) by next year to accelerate the training of AI models and will establish a 150 trillion-won public-private fund over five years to nurture strategic industries, including AI, defense, and digital content.
Lee closed his speech with an appeal for bipartisan cooperation to pass the budget by the legal deadline of December 2. The conservative opposition People Power Party boycotted the session, protesting a special counsel probe that recently sought an arrest warrant for one of its lawmakers over an alleged martial law plot tied to former President Yoon Suk Yeol.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
