Lee: "Cannot let fields lie fallow due to lack of seeds... active fiscal role needed"

Presides over State Council approving next year's budget bill... "Sprinboard for growth through great economic innovation"

President Lee Jae-myung speaking at an extraordinary State Council meeting (Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Hong Hae-in = President Lee Jae-myung is speaking at an extraordinary State Council meeting held at the Yongsan Presidential Office in Seoul on the 29th. 2025.8.29

hihong@yna.co.k

President Lee Jae-myung said on the 29th regarding the new government's first full budget that "we cannot afford to make the mistake of leaving fields fallow just because we lack seeds to sow."

Presiding over a State Council meeting to approve the 2026 budget bill at the Yongsan Presidential Office on the same day, the President stated, "Now is a time when an active fiscal role is more necessary than ever," adding, "It is common sense and the natural order to prepare for farming by sowing seeds, even if we have to borrow them."

This is interpreted as an emphasis on the need for expansionary fiscal policy, accepting a slight increase in national debt, given the current severe economic conditions.

President Lee said, "Our economy is currently facing two challenges simultaneously: industrial economic innovation driven by new technologies, and improving our export-dependent economy which is vulnerable to external shocks." He emphasized, "The budget bill for next year, to be approved at today's State Council meeting, is the springboard to address both these challenges and drive recovery and growth through great economic innovation."

He then requested, "The government should communicate closely with the National Assembly to ensure the smooth processing of the budget bill," and urged, "We earnestly request the active cooperation of the National Assembly for the new leap forward of our economy."