"Let's pursue politics that saves people." That was the pledge I made when I first set foot in Yeouido. Helping those in difficulty remains my political driving force. Now, I want to add one more goal to that: building "a nation that invests in people."
One of the duties of a National Assembly member is to monitor the efficiency of national finances. The budget and settlement processes I have actually experienced were somewhat unsystematic. Massive budgets are being scattered as charity-style subsidies. As each ministry expands various cash support programs to showcase achievements, annual government subsidies have surpassed 100 trillion won. The leakage of taxpayer money is so serious that the government has dramatically tightened the threshold for mandatory external accounting audits from 1 billion won to 300 million won to prevent fraudulent claims. We must examine whether this astronomical capital is being properly used to build the nation's future competitiveness.
In the recent parliamentary audit, I worked with the media to intensively analyze the "policy fund operation status" of major ministries. The results showed that funds meant to lead the innovation ecosystem were being swayed by ministerial self-interest. Budgets for scale-up funds and cybersecurity funds, blocked by inter-ministerial silos, lost policy predictability — being halved overnight or surging the following year.
More serious is that even after funds are formed, money does not circulate in the field. A significant number of policy funds failed to absorb more than half of their budgets even in their third year of operation, creating serious funding bottlenecks. In fact, the SME mother fund, formed at a scale of 1.4 trillion won, was unable to deploy approximately 800 billion won, and the unexecuted rates of other ministerial funds reached 50 to 70 percent. Despite fund reserves reaching trillions of won, next year's budget has been increased by about 1.2 trillion won.
The damage from this mismatch falls entirely on innovative companies. Promising deep-tech startups with long-term technology plans have been driven into immediate management crises by unexpected budget cuts. On the contrary, "zombie companies" that cling to securing government subsidies rather than acquiring technology are being mass-produced. The paradigm of the current subsidy system, which is failing to properly lead private-sector innovation, must be urgently changed.
The answer is to redesign national fiscal policy as an investment in the people's tomorrow. The sovereign wealth funds of Singapore and Saudi Arabia have created a virtuous cycle in which the state steps forward as a giant anchor investor, strategically invests in global innovative companies, and reinvests the returns into the welfare and infrastructure of their own citizens. In contrast, South Korea, the world's 10th-largest economy, is still stuck in a one-time cash support system. It is time for the government to preempt the market's unexplored territories and actively invest.
The "National Growth Fund," which the Lee Jae-myung administration recently planned at a scale of 150 trillion won to support advanced strategic industries, is an excellent model. By contributing 120 billion won in government finances as subordinated equity and bearing up to 20 percent of losses first, it has dramatically lowered the risk for private investors. With the added benefits of income tax deductions and separate taxation on dividend income, the first-round sale of 600 billion won targeted at the general public sold out in just 10 minutes. The state's active risk-taking and joining as a co-investor in areas of high uncertainty is a very timely shift in approach.
The political community must work to break away from the current subsidy paradigm. It is time to establish a structure in which bold investment in advanced industries leads to global achievements, and the fruits are returned to each individual citizen. Now we must complete a "people-centered economy" in which the fruits of growth change the lives of citizens. Through innovation and investment, we will build a nation where all citizens enjoy the benefits of growth.
