Lee Jaemyung's Ten Major Pledges: "Focused Development of AI and Realization of Economic Power"

"Increase AI Budget to Advanced Country Levels"
Commercial Act Reform Including Duty of Loyalty for Shareholders
Strengthen Control Over Martial Law Authority and Prosecution/Judicial Reform
Complete Sejong Administrative Capital and Promote Balanced National Development

On May 12, Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jaemyung announced his major campaign pledges, including the realization of a strong economic power through the focused development of new industries such as artificial intelligence (AI).

The Democratic Party's election committee stated that it submitted these ten major pledges to the National Election Commission on the same day.

Under the theme of "Becoming a Leading Global Economic Power," the Democratic Party set a goal to become one of the world's top three AI powers and pledged to increase the proportion of the national AI budget to a level exceeding that of advanced countries.

Among the economic and industrial pledges, the party promised to revise the Commercial Act to introduce a duty of loyalty for shareholders and to improve corporate governance, thereby protecting the rights and interests of general shareholders.

Political and judicial pledges, under the theme of "A Strong Democracy," focused on overcoming internal unrest and restoring the status of K-democracy.

The pledges also include strengthening democratic control over the president's martial law authority and enhancing direct democracy, such as by introducing a recall system for members of the National Assembly.

Specifically, the pledges include the separation of investigation and prosecution powers, strengthening judicial oversight to prevent abuse of prosecutorial authority, implementing a system for the dismissal of prosecutors, and completing judicial reforms such as expanding the number of Supreme Court justices.

Additionally, the Democratic Party pledged to revise relevant laws to overcome the partisanship of the Korea Communications Commission and to restore the public nature and social responsibility of broadcasting, thereby realizing broadcasting for the people.

Under the theme "A Nation That Protects the Lives and Safety of Its People," the party's healthcare pledges addressed solutions to confusion in the medical field, emphasizing the establishment of a "National Participatory Healthcare Reform Deliberation Committee" to pursue genuine healthcare reform desired by the public.

The party also pledged to secure local, essential, and public healthcare personnel by establishing new local medical schools, local doctors, and a public healthcare academy.

Labor pledges, under the theme "A Society Where Labor Is Respected and Everyone's Rights Are Guaranteed," include amending Articles 2 and 3 of the Trade Union Act?known as the "Yellow Envelope Law"?to guarantee the bargaining rights of subcontracted workers and others.

The pledges also include supporting the implementation of a 4.5-day workweek across all government agencies and lowering working hours to below the OECD average by 2030.

Environmental and industrial pledges, under the theme "Responding to the Climate Crisis for Future Generations," focus on enacting a Basic Act on Carbon Neutrality, closing all coal-fired power plants by 2040, and establishing RE100 (100% renewable energy) industrial complexes.

The Democratic Party also included in its pledges the development of diplomatic relations with the four major powers surrounding Korea based on national interest and pragmatism, easing military tensions on the Korean Peninsula, pursuing the transfer of wartime operational control based on the South Korea-U.S. alliance, completing the administrative capital in Sejong, and revitalizing local economies by mandating the issuance of local currency vouchers.