South Korea Sets Record 35.3 Trillion-Won Research Budget to Power AI Drive

South Korea’s government will raise its research outlays to a record 35.3 trillion won (about $25 billion) in 2026, President Lee Jae-myung said on Friday. The figure is roughly 20 percent higher than this year’s allocation and forms the centrepiece of the administration’s first economic policy blueprint. The finance ministry said the additional money will underpin 30 large-scale projects aimed at accelerating the adoption of artificial intelligence in sectors ranging from robots and vehicles to advanced materials and cultural exports such as “K-beauty” and “K-food.” Seoul also plans to establish, together with industry, a 100 trillion won investment fund for strategic technologies. Officials framed the spending surge as essential to lifting long-term growth, which the ministry now expects to slow to 0.9 percent in 2025 amid weaker exports and the drag from higher U.S. tariffs. The government’s goal is to push South Korea into the world’s top three AI powers and raise the economy’s potential growth rate to about 3 percent.