On April 15 (Tuesday), Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choi Sang-mok chaired the Ministerial Meeting on Economic Affairs and Ministerial Meeting on Strengthening Industrial Competitiveness at the Government Complex-Seoul.
* Participants: Deputy Prime Minister (Chair), and Ministers and Vice Ministers of the Ministry of Science and ICT, Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Office for Government Policy Coordination, and Financial Services Commission.
The government plans to submit an “Essential Supplementary Budget Plan” worth approximately 12 trillion won to the National Assembly, which is about 2 trillion won more than the originally announced 10 trillion won. The supplementary budget will focus on the following areas: ①Responding to disasters and emergencies, ②Strengthening competitiveness in trade and AI, and ③Improving people’s livelihoods.
Over 3 trillion won will be allocated to respond to large-scale disasters and emergencies. The disaster response fund will be reinforced to more than double its current level of approximately 500 billion won to ensure swift recovery from wildfire damage. Two trillion won will be allocated for the advanced equipment and the disaster reserve fund, additionally introducing six medium- to large-sized forest helicopters, AI surveillance cameras, drones, and multi-purpose wildfire suppression vehicles.
More than 4 trillion won will be invested to respond to rapidly changing trade conditions and to enhance competitiveness in high-tech industries. Over 25 trillion won in policy financing will be provided to support companies facing tariff-related damages or export crises, and the number of companies receiving export voucher support will also be more than doubled. Fiscal support for infrastructure, finance, and R&D in advanced industries such as AI and semiconductors will be expanded by over 2 trillion won.
Furthermore, over 4 trillion won will be provided to support small business owners and vulnerable groups. A new “Burden Relief Credit” program will be introduced, offering 500,000 won per year to small business owners to help cover public utility bills and insurance premiums. A “Co-prosperity Payback” program will also be launched, which reimburses a portion of the year-on-year increase in credit card spending in the form of Onnuri gift certificates for businesses with annual sales of 3 billion won or less. Policy financing to support the livelihood stability of low-income youth and individuals with the lowest credit ratings will also be raised by 200 billion won.
Assistance for the semiconductor industry, expected to be targeted by item-specific tariffs by the U.S. government, will be significantly increased from the original 26 trillion won to 33 trillion won; over 4 trillion won in fiscal resources is also planned to be injected by 2026. Exceptional support will be provided for infrastructure development, including power and water supply. The government will cover 70% of the corporate burden for undergrounding transmission lines for the semiconductor cluster in Yongin and Pyeongtaek. The national budget support ratio for infrastructure in specialized zones for advanced strategic industries will be significantly increased to 30-50%; for large-scale clusters with investments exceeding 100 trillion won, the limit for national budget support will be raised from 50 billion won to 100 billion won.
Investment by semiconductor companies will be actively supported. A new investment subsidy will be introduced for SMEs producing advanced materials, components, and equipment; over 3 trillion won in low-interest loans will be provided for the semiconductor industry. In addition, mini-fabs, which closely resemble actual mass production environments, will be established to push forward the K-semiconductor technology innovation platform (Korean version of IMEC). Through this supplementary budget, two additional high-performance AI semiconductor demonstration equipment units will be introduced by the end of the year for joint use by fabless companies, and the scale of demonstration projects will be stepped up by 2.5 times. The recruitment of top semiconductor talent will be strengthened through the establishment of training and research programs for early-career postdoctoral and doctoral researchers in Korea, the launch of global joint research programs to attract and retain foreign talent, and the nationwide expansion of the semiconductor academy.
In today’s meeting, discussions were held on the following topics: 1) Strengthening fiscal investments to secure global semiconductor competitiveness, 2) Follow-up Measures for Enhancing National AI Capabilities, and 3) Biohealth Sector Response Strategies to a Changing Trade Environment.
Please refer to the attached files.
