The Ministry of Planning and Budget, the National Economic Advisory Council, and the Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology held a joint seminar on September 16 to discuss together the direction in which the Republic of Korea should develop by 2045, the year marking the 100th anniversary of national liberation. The seminar brought participants together around a shared conviction that the focus of future strategy should be placed on the lives of young people and the next generation.
 [코리안투데이] Joint seminar on the 2045 Mid- to Long-Term National Development Strategy © 장형임 기자 |
The Ministry of Planning and Budget (Minister Park Hong-keun), the National Economic Advisory Council (Vice Chairman Kim Sung-sik), and the Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology (Vice Chairman Lee Kyung-soo) held a joint seminar from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on September 16 at the Fairmont Ambassador in Seoul, under the theme ‘The 2045 Mid- to Long-Term National Development Strategy and Walking Together with the Next Generation.’
The seminar, which brought together the Ministry of Planning and Budget and the constitutional advisory bodies representing the fields of economy, society, and science and technology, was arranged to look ahead to the changes and opportunities that the Republic of Korea will face in 2045, the 100th anniversary of liberation, and to jointly seek a path toward becoming ‘an irreplaceable Republic of Korea that every citizen can look forward to and that no other country in the world can substitute for.’ In that a long-term national strategy was discussed jointly by multiple advisory bodies rather than by a single ministry, the event can be read as an attempt to broaden the design of the future into a process of social consensus.
In his opening address, Minister Park Hong-keun said that ‘past success does not guarantee future success,’ and diagnosed that amid a ‘civilizational great transformation’ in which AI, the climate and energy transition, demographic change, and the realignment of supply chains and the international order are all unfolding at once, the Republic of Korea stands at a crossroads that will determine the nation’s future. He emphasized that ‘depending on how we prepare for the next 20 years, we could leap forward to become a country that leads the world, or we could lose our vitality with our current achievements as the peak.’
Minister Park presented three visions for what the Republic of Korea should aspire to be in 2045: ‘a Republic of Korea that keeps growing through innovation,’ ‘a Republic of Korea whose innovation is directed toward the lives of its people,’ and ‘a Republic of Korea that the world trusts and wishes to work with.’ To this end, he said, new growth engines should be created through bold investment in AI, advanced technology, and talent, and through the removal of regulations and bottlenecks, while the fruits of innovation should not be concentrated in the hands of a few but should extend to people’s lives and to opportunities for the next generation. Citing ‘preemptive investment, bold structural reform, and future design’ as the government’s roles, he said the government would reform institutions and the fiscal structure in line with demographic and industrial changes. In particular, he stressed that ‘the 2045 National Development Strategy is, in effect, a blueprint for the lives of the next generation,’ and pledged to listen broadly and build social consensus.
The seminar featured three keynote presentations. Professor Seo Yong-seok of the Moon Soul Graduate School of Future Strategy at KAIST presented ‘A Science and Technology Strategy to Rebuild the Ladder of First Experience for Young People,’ diagnosing a strong risk that the employment shock from AI will be concentrated on young people newly entering the labor market. He argued that the goal of science and technology strategy should be redefined from ‘youth job creation’ centered on employment subsidies and short-term internships to the ‘redesign of paths for accumulating experience,’ and said the key lies in transforming the broken career ladder into a ‘career escalator’ by, among other measures, turning national R&D public projects into career infrastructure.
Professor Won Seung-yeon of the Department of Business Administration at Myongji University presented ‘A New Economic and Social Paradigm Strategy for Walking Together with Future Generations,’ pointing to the inflection points of population decline, low growth, and AI innovation. Analyzing the delayed entry of young people into the labor market, the expansion of non-regular employment, and the deepening of asset inequality driven by rising real estate prices as crisis factors that sap the vitality of the Korean economy, he proposed a full-scale shift in the economic and social paradigm through the transfer of authority from the older generation, the handing down of tacit knowledge, and the creation of fair opportunities, rather than charity-style youth policies.
Kim Mi-ru, director of the Macroeconomic and Financial Policy Research Department at the KDI, presented ‘Key Contents of Research for Establishing the 2045 Mid- to Long-Term National Development Strategy,’ offering the vision of ‘a Republic of Korea that turns the power of growth into the happiness of life and designs the world’s future together.’ She said that five transformations — in life, innovation, space, generations, and the role of the state — are needed for ‘stronger growth, a warmer community, and a more responsible transition,’ and emphasized innovation in the fiscal and implementation systems to underpin them, as well as fiscal management that considers the performance and cost-effectiveness of spending.
The general discussion that followed was co-chaired by Kim Sung-sik, Vice Chairman of the National Economic Advisory Council, and Lee Kyung-soo, Vice Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology. Kim Ga-yeon, secretary of the Korea Undergraduate Quantum Society, said that for deep-tech undergraduates the very ‘first rung’ of the career ladder is lacking, and proposed that national R&D should provide open first research experiences. Professor Yang Seung-hoon of the Department of Sociology at Kyungnam University stressed that a ‘first-career formation platform’ in which businesses, government, and universities cooperate should allow field skills and tacit knowledge to be passed down across generations. Lee Min-jeong, associate research fellow at the Science and Technology Policy Institute, said that the state and society should share the early learning and experience costs of young people, and Choi Min-chul, research fellow at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, suggested combining technology and industrial policy with education, employment, and regional policy.
Vice Chairman Lee Kyung-soo said that ‘in the era of the great AI transformation, the development path of technology and the growth path of people must be designed together,’ and called for institutional channels that involve the next generation directly in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of national science and technology strategy, rather than treating them merely as the objects of policy support. Vice Chairman Kim Sung-sik emphasized that ‘true companionship with future generations is not limited to policies targeting young people, but means securing intergenerational empathy by enabling future generations to speak and participate in the mid- to long-term national development vision and strategy.’
The Ministry of Planning and Budget plans to actively reflect the views gathered at this seminar in the process of establishing the 2045 Mid- to Long-Term National Development Strategy. The actual remarks and other details can be viewed in the on-site coverage and the live-streamed videos on each institution’s YouTube channel.
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