South Korea's Lee calls for swift passing of 'budget bill to open AI era'

( November 4, 2025, 02:54 GMT | Official Statement) -- MLex Summary: South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said there was a need to sharply and swiftly increase spending on artificial intelligence in his scheduled speech to parliament on Tuesday, calling the 2026 government budget the first to open the AI era. While leaving unchanged the details of the budget bill first unveiled in August, Lee urged parliament to approve it as proposed, saying that a day’s delay would mean a generation’s delay in the AI age, whereas it once would have caused a year’s delay in the information age. He outlined a plan to more than triple funding for AI development in 2026 compared with the 2025 budget, while stressing the need for the country to promote “physical AI” in robotics, automobiles, shipbuilding, home appliances, semiconductors and defense equipment manufacturing. Parliament has until early December to approve the 2026 budget, which represents an 8.1 percent increase from 2025, before the fiscal year begins on Jan. 1.The speech text, in Korean, is attached....