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Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, announces his presidential pledges at the party’s headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul. (Yonhap) |
Ruling Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung on Tuesday pledged to create more than 2 million jobs through the country’s “digital transition.”
Lee, a former Gyeonggi Province governor, announced his plans for the digital transition at the party’s headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul. Although Lee had shared election pledges on social media on multiple occasions, it was his first official announcement through his election campaign committee.
“As technology develops, the importance of human labor in production can only decline. We have to find more jobs in new domains,” Lee said.
He said he will put 135 trillion won ($113 billion) into the digital transition if he becomes president: 85 trillion won from the central government, 20 trillion won from local governments and 30 trillion won from the private sector.
“I will work on bringing more than 250 trillion won from the private sector to expand the digital territory of Korea and develop businesses,” Lee said. “(The transition) will create more than 2 million jobs and lead to added value worth 30 trillion won.”
Lee promised better infrastructure for the digital transition and pledged to expand the digital, technological and global territories. He also said he would guarantee the people’s digital rights.
“I will connect Internet of Things, Cloud, 5G and 6G to build up and connect infrastructures,” he said.
While mentioning the construction of a digital expressway, Lee also promised to set up a separate committee under the president to resolve conflicts related to digital regulations.
“We should approve everything except for the things that should not be done, and then, provide countermeasures,” Lee said, stressing the need for “negative restrictions.”
Another major promise is to appoint the head of the Federal Data Policy Committee for the Data Framework Act as the chief data officer, the person who will support the integration and connection of data between ministries.
Lee said he will strengthen digital education for elementary schools and middle schools, with the aim of nurturing at least 1 million students.
By Im Eun-byel (
silverstar@heraldcorp.com)
