[2024 City Policy Speech] Yoon Emphasizes Economy 23 Times and People 20 Times... Urges Cooperation with National Assembly

Emphasis in the order of Support, State, Budget, Reform, and Finance

President Yoon Suk-yeol emphasized the domestic and international 'economic' recession situation on the 31st and requested cooperation from the National Assembly to support future generations and socially vulnerable groups.

Analyzing President Yoon's '2024 Budget Proposal and Fund Operation Plan Policy Speech,' the most frequently used word in his speech of 7,492 characters and 1,770 words was 'economy' (23 times).

While President Yoon mentioned stronger 'support' (32 times) for socially vulnerable groups most frequently in last year's policy speech, this year he emphasized the more severe economic situation compared to last year, which is interpreted as an intention to uphold the government's sound fiscal policy.

In fact, President Yoon explained in the policy speech that the global trade is shrinking amid high interest rates and high inflation, and that the economic recession has prolonged due to overlapping security risks such as the Ukraine war and the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas.

President Yoon then mentioned the government (22 times), the people (20 times, excluding 2 mentions of the People Power Party), support (16 times), the nation (16 times), budget (16 times), reform (14 times), finance (13 times), future (11 times), and the National Assembly (10 times) in that order.

President Yoon Suk-yeol is delivering the 2024 budget address at the plenary session of the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 31st. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

The government is focusing on managing macroeconomic risks, economic recovery, and stabilizing people's livelihoods, and as the three major reforms of labor, education, and pensions are also being intensified, assistance from the National Assembly in legislation is needed for the nation and future generations.

In particular, unlike last year when the major opposition party, the Democratic Party of Korea, declared a boycott, Democratic Party lawmakers attended the policy speech, creating a cooperative atmosphere, which seems to have influenced President Yoon's choice of words.

He specifically explained that instead of cutting back on research and development (R&D), the budget was redirected to welfare for vulnerable groups. President Yoon stated, "Although the R&D budget quantitatively increased significantly from about 20 trillion won over three years starting in 2019 to 30 trillion won, there have been many criticisms that qualitative improvement and expenditure restructuring are urgently needed to create future growth engines."

Regarding pension reform among labor, education, and pension reforms, he referred to the recently submitted comprehensive National Pension Operation Plan, emphasizing, "We have accumulated scientific evidence through over 80 meetings with the country's top experts, listened to public opinions through 24 in-depth interviews by social strata, and conducted thorough public opinion surveys."

On labor reform, he mentioned, "While legitimate labor movements are thoroughly guaranteed, illegal acts are being dealt with according to law and principles regardless of labor or management." Regarding education reform, he stated, "Through a diverse, open, and fair system, we will do our best in education reform so that our children can grow into talents with international competitiveness."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.