President Lee calls for industrial map redrawn around regions

President Lee Jae Myung said Tuesday that South Korea must redraw its industrial map around the regions so the country's growth engine can expand beyond the Greater Seoul area.

Lee made the remarks while chairing a ministry briefing at Cheong Wa Dae, where he stressed the importance of the government's three major mega-projects currently underway.

"The world is entering a period of sweeping transformation in which the entire industrial framework is being remade around AI," he said, adding that "bold challenges, investment and speed are all the more necessary in times like these."

He added that "ultimately, the key is building irreplaceable competitiveness," and emphasized that "reading the currents of change with agility and designing the future is a critical role of government. We must build a resilient South Korea — one with solid industrial growth capacity and a robust energy security framework that does not buckle easily under shifting external conditions."

Lee also called for a flexible trade policy centered on the national interest. "We cannot afford to depend on any single country or market," he said. "We must make sustained efforts to diversify our export markets and supply chains."

He urged continued vigilance over supply chain and energy security amid instability in the Middle East. "Over the past six months, even amid the threat of war, we have managed our industrial supply chains and energy supply and demand well enough to keep our industries and people's daily lives stable," Lee said, adding that the performance compared favorably with other countries.

However, he cautioned that "tensions in the Middle East are rising again, so we must not let our guard down," and called on officials to at the same time "pick up speed in generating results as we push to become a leading nation in both cutting-edge industries and energy."