President Lee Jae-myung said the government will invest 2.6 trillion won to minimize damage to industrial sites and maintain stable supply chains directly linked to economic security, in a supplementary budget address to the National Assembly on Monday responding to the Middle East war.
"Export companies and affected industries must weather the current crisis for our economy to have a future," Lee said during the address on a 26.2 trillion won supplementary budget at the National Assembly. "We will substantially strengthen logistics and financial support to back them up."
Lee said the government will double the number of export voucher recipients to 14,000 companies, provide 7.1 trillion won in export policy financing, and supply an additional 280 billion won in low-interest funds for the tourism industry.
Making clear that Korea must also build a foundation for a new economic leap after overcoming the crisis, Lee said, "We will take this energy crisis as a lesson and an opportunity, and push the energy transition toward renewable energy with greater speed."
To that end, Lee said the government will expand renewable energy loans and subsidies to a record 1.1 trillion won. He added that the government will significantly expand "Sunlight Income Villages," where local residents directly participate in the installation and operation of solar power plants, from approximately 150 locations to 700.
"We will spread artificial intelligence innovation across industrial and manufacturing sites to improve the industrial structure, and boldly invest in developing next-generation growth engines for carbon-neutral industries," Lee said.
He also stressed that the government will substantially increase policy financing for the content and cultural arts industries, "to ease the pain of the cultural arts industry and firmly support the creative foundation, the root of K-Culture, so that it does not collapse."
Lee added that the government will invest 700 billion won to secure a stable supply base for petroleum and key strategic resources. "We will build a solid supply chain by expanding naphtha supply management and petroleum stockpile support — naphtha being the essential feedstock of the petrochemical industry — and establish a fair petroleum distribution order through oil price disclosure and thorough monitoring of illegal activities," he said.