Lee Jae Myung Pledges 'Bold' Economic Policy After Martial Law Crisis

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung vowed on July 3 to implement a "bold" fiscal policy to boost a flagging economy after the country's martial law crisis and to tackle challenges posed by looming US tariffs and North Korea.

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SEOUL -

Mr. Lee, who was elected on June 3 in a snap election, said it was his top priority to improve the lives of the people, whose faith in government had been greatly shaken by "a national crisis" that hammered Asia's fourth-largest economy.

"It is a time when the proactive and bold role of national finance is more important than ever," Mr. Lee, who has pledged to implement expansionary fiscal policy, said in his opening remarks at a news conference to mark 30 days in office.

Mr. Lee's predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol, declared martial law in December 2024, shocking a nation that had come to pride itself as a thriving democracy that overcame a military dictatorship in the 1980s, and triggered an unprecedented constitutional crisis.