Lee Jae-myung: "If the cost of the failed giant whale drilling had been used to buy 3,000 GPUs, it would have helped AI development"

Democratic Party Supreme Council Meeting on the 7th
"APEC, an Opportunity to Showcase Korea's Resilience"

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, criticized the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's failure in the deep-sea gas field project 'Daewang Whale' exploration drilling in the East Sea, saying, "The money needed for artificial intelligence (AI) research was spent on fraudulent drilling."

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 7th. 2025.2.7 Photo by Kim Hyun-min

At the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 7th, Lee pointed out the failure of the Daewang Whale exploration drilling, stating, "The state put money that could have bought 3,000 high-spec graphics processing units (GPUs) for AI research into fraudulent drilling."

Lee said, "While overseas companies have 30,000 GPUs per unit, Korea only has a few thousand," and questioned, "If this money had not been spent on such (drilling) fraud and instead 100 billion won was immediately used to buy 3,000 high-spec GPUs for AI researchers, how much would it have helped Korean AI research?"

He also argued that a special committee to support the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Gyeongju should be established at the National Assembly level. Lee said, "We need to unite our efforts for the successful hosting of the Gyeongju APEC," and added, "To ensure the successful hosting of the Gyeongju APEC summit meeting scheduled for October, a special committee to support APEC should be formed at the National Assembly level."

Lee stated, "APEC is a golden opportunity to demonstrate the resilience of the Republic of Korea," and said, "There is no distinction between ruling and opposition parties on important matters, so I make this proposal to the People Power Party." He continued, "The Gyeongju APEC Support Act was passed through bipartisan agreement," and added, "I hope the People Power Party will participate without obstructing the formation of the special committee so that it can be substantive and the event can be successfully hosted."

Regarding pension reform, Lee said, "Although belated, it is fortunate that the People Power Party has announced that it will start with structural reform related to pension reform," urging prompt discussions. Lee added, "The People Power Party has shown an attitude of proposing something but then introducing new conditions to effectively derail it, and I hope pension reform will not follow the same pattern."

Meanwhile, on the same day, the Democratic Party of Korea's Gyeongnam Provincial Party accepted the reinstatement applications of seven people, including former Gyeongnam Governor Kim Kyung-soo.