According to Yonhap News Agency, the South Korean government met with the Cabinet of Ministers on August 29 to review and pass the 2026 budget. The total budget expenditure reached 728 trillion won, an increase of 8.1% over this year, far exceeding this year's 2.5% increase, and the total amount reached a record high. This is the first budget prepared by the Lee Jae-myung administration, marking a formal shift in South Korea's fiscal policy from “austerity” to “expansion” during the previous administration. The report said that in the face of the crisis of insufficient structural momentum in the country's economy, the South Korean government focused its budget on artificial intelligence and R&D to drive growth: the R&D budget was raised from 29.6 trillion won to 35.3 trillion won, the largest increase in history, to accelerate innovation in the six key areas of AI, biology, cultural and creative content, military, energy, and manufacturing. Among them, the AI budget increased more than threefold from 3.3 trillion won to 10.1 trillion won.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the South Korean government met with the Cabinet of Ministers on August 29 to review and pass the 2026 budget. The total budget expenditure reached 728 trillion won, an increase of 8.1% over this year, far exceeding this year's 2.5% increase, and the total amount reached a record high. This is the first budget prepared by the Lee Jae-myung administration, marking a formal shift in South Korea's fiscal policy from “austerity” to “expansion” during the previous administration. The report said that in the face of the crisis of insufficient structural momentum in the country's economy, the South Korean government focused its budget on artificial intelligence and R&D to drive growth: the R&D budget was raised from 29.6 trillion won to 35.3 trillion won, the largest increase in history, to accelerate innovation in the six key areas of AI, biology, cultural and creative content, military, energy, and manufacturing. Among them, the AI budget increased more than threefold from 3.3 trillion won to 10.1 trillion won.