Koo Yoonchul: "Focused Support for Ultra-Innovative Economy... Transforming the Entire Population into AI Specialists"

Presiding Over the First Economic Ministers' Meeting After Taking Office
Emphasizing AI Talent Development in Elementary, Middle, and High Schools, and Universities
Hosting Large-Scale Domestic Tourism and Consumption Events Every Month

Koo Yoonchul, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, stated on the 7th, "We will select and provide focused support for concrete ultra-innovative economic items that can sustain the Republic of Korea."

At the Economic Ministers' Meeting held at the Government Seoul Office that morning, Deputy Prime Minister Koo said, "We will establish the new government's economic growth strategy to make a major shift from a catch-up economy to a leading economy." He added, "By selecting and concentrating support on ultra-innovative economic items, we aim to achieve visible results in a short period of time."

Deputy Prime Minister Koo emphasized, "We will turn the entire population into AI warriors through customized education tailored to each group, including elementary, middle, and high school students, university students, youth, soldiers, the general public, and professional technicians."

He further stated, "There remains a critical task to secure world-class competitiveness in future growth engines and ultra-innovative technologies," and added, "If we do not transition to an ultra-innovative economy ahead of others in response to rapidly changing technological paradigms such as AI, there is a risk of falling behind."

The government plans to finalize and announce specific strategies for this initiative in the second half of this month after discussions among relevant ministries.

Koo Yoonchul, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Economy and Finance, attended the first Economic Ministers' Meeting held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 7th, and spoke about the new government's economic growth strategy and measures to revitalize win-win consumption to revive local economies. 2025.8.7 Photo by Cho Yongjun

At this first Economic Ministers' Meeting under the new administration, measures to revitalize win-win consumption to revive local economies were also discussed as a major agenda item.

Deputy Prime Minister Koo positively assessed the recovery in consumption, stating, "Retail sales have returned to an upward trend after four months, and the consumer sentiment index has risen to its highest level in four years and one month."

However, he pointed out, "In local regions, structural constraints such as population decline have delayed the recovery in consumption compared to the Seoul metropolitan area," and emphasized, "We will strongly promote the 'Local Revitalization Consumption Boom-up' initiative to rapidly spread the recovery in consumption to every corner of the country."

To this end, the government presented four main strategies: holding a series of large-scale consumption events, promoting exchanges through sister city partnerships between local governments, giving preferential incentives for local consumption, and expanding efforts to attract foreign tourists.

First, large-scale consumption events will be held every month until the end of the year to maintain the momentum in consumption. This month, the 'Accommodation Sale Festa' will take place, followed by the 'Traveling Autumn' campaign and 'Accompanying Festival' in September, 'Duty Free Festa' in October, and 'Korea Sale Festa' in November.

Incentives for local consumption will also be significantly strengthened. Deputy Prime Minister Koo said, "We will immediately issue 1.6 million art exhibition coupons and 500,000 performing arts coupons, with additional quotas dedicated to non-metropolitan areas, starting from the 8th." In addition, 800,000 accommodation coupons that can only be used in non-metropolitan areas will be issued starting from the 20th.

Deputy Prime Minister Koo noted, "Consumption, which had been sluggish for a long time, is gradually recovering," and stated, "To ensure that this hard-won recovery in consumption takes firm root, we will continue the 'Consumption Relay' by holding large-scale consumption events every month until the end of the year, following the livelihood recovery consumption coupons."