President Lee Jae-myung emphasized six major reforms for 2026 as a starting point to rebound potential growth, the presidential office and a policy briefing said. The plan is to speed structural reform across regulation, finance, the public sector, pensions, education and labor.

The government named pension and labor reform—where social debate has clashed most sharply—as key first-half tasks. Both pit generations and classes against one another, so building consensus is the crux.

A ₩727 trillion 'super-expansionary budget'

The 2026 main budget passed by the National Assembly is ₩727.9 trillion, up about 5% from a year earlier. More than a third is allocated to medium- and long-term growth bases and livelihood stability—AI/R&D and hyper-innovation, energy and climate, the social safety net and welfare, and balanced regional development and infrastructure.

The government aims to lift growth potential by combining structural reform with fiscal investment. Yet debate over the sustainability of expansionary spending and fiscal soundness is likely to continue in parliamentary review.

Emphasis on transparency

President Lee said that, under the principles of the public's right to know and transparent governance, he would broadcast work reports in full except for items requiring security, aiming to build trust by opening up decision-making.

Reform's success ultimately rests on the breadth and pace of social consensus. The government said it would widen common ground through labor-management-government and expert councils, but reconciling interests is a formidable task.

A third lens

Sinophone Bridge Times reads the reform agenda through real changes in institutions and numbers, not the slogans of any camp. Structural reform is completed by legislation and execution, not declaration, and we follow how the process reaches the pension, employment and education environment of Korea's Chinese households.