President Lee Launches Active SNS Campaign to Defend "1,000 Trillion Won" Non-Capital Advanced Industry Investment Against Opposition Claims

President Lee Issues Six Rebuttal Messages on Social Media
Directly Responds to Yoo Seungmin's "Why Honam?" Criticism: "Please Wait and See"
Lee Stresses Historic Achievements by Public Officials and Companies: "Do Not Criticize or Slander Based

President Lee Jae-myung continued to wage a battle for public opinion by actively rebutting criticism from opposition parties regarding his investment plans for non-metropolitan regions, such as the southwest, in the semiconductor and AI sectors as part of his "Republic of Korea Grand Leap Forward" initiative. After former People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Seung-min questioned the rationale behind the site selection and some members of the People Power Party raised suspicions of government pressure and forced investment on the companies, President Lee posted a series of related messages on X (formerly Twitter) late into the night on June 27. This move is seen as an attempt to preempt further political controversy over the regional investment plans for advanced industries, such as semiconductors, ahead of the scheduled "Three Major Mega Projects National Briefing for the Republic of Korea Grand Leap Forward" at the Blue House on June 29.

President Lee Jae-myung is speaking at the Chief Presidential Secretary meeting held at the Blue House on June 25, 2026. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

President Lee stated, "This is the result of public officials fulfilling their rightful responsibilities to achieve the administrative goal of balanced national development, which has become Korea's survival strategy. It is an unprecedented, record-breaking regional investment attraction," adding, "Such a historic achievement deserves praise." He continued, "I hope that people will not hastily assume, based on their own past actions or experiences, that others will behave the same way, and refrain from baseless criticism and slander, considering the morale of the public officials who achieved the government's greatest accomplishments and the business leaders who made bold decisions beneficial to the nation and its people."

The Blue House is set to host a national briefing on June 29, presided over by President Lee, with attendees including Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, and Chey Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group, where investment plans for the three strategic industries—semiconductors, AI data centers, and physical AI—will be announced for each regional hub. The total investment in semiconductors and AI alone is reportedly expected to exceed 1,000 trillion won. Opposition parties have raised concerns that the site selection may be driven by political logic rather than industrial rationale.

Former lawmaker Yoo stated that while he supports attracting semiconductor factories to southern regions such as Yeongnam and Honam, he questioned why only Honam would host such a large-scale semiconductor facility, calling for an explanation. He argued that the site selection should be justified based on objective industrial factors such as electricity, water supply, workforce, and land, and that corporate investment decisions should not be swayed by political considerations. In response, President Lee shared a related article on X, stating, "If you wait a little longer, we will officially release the details," and urged, "Please do not rush."

President Lee also directly addressed key issues, including water supply, electricity, renewable energy, and land availability. The first point he rebutted was the claim of water scarcity. President Lee asserted, "Honam has as much water as Yeongnam or the Seoul Capital Area," and explained, "With the proper management system and allocation of water resources, it has been reviewed that it is possible to supply 1 million tons of industrial water per day, which is sufficient for advanced urban development." Given that large-scale industrial water is essential for semiconductor manufacturing, water supply has been the most sensitive issue in the debate over the suitability of the Honam region. President Lee characterized this not as a limitation of natural conditions but as a problem with the existing water management system, emphasizing that the government can address it by redesigning infrastructure.

He also cited the availability of large-scale electricity and RE100 compliance as grounds for choosing the southwest region, including Honam. President Lee pointed out that the semiconductor industry requires not only water but also large-scale electricity and renewable energy, and that while the Seoul Capital Area is already saturated, the southwest coast has significant potential for solar and wind energy. He added, "When it comes to stable, inexpensive land with no risk of earthquakes, underdeveloped Honam is the best."

Regarding allegations of forced corporate investment, President Lee dismissed them as baseless, saying, "Those who have abused national policy for political purposes may see it that way." He stated, "The world is not just black and white. There are also shades of gray and red and blue." President Lee explained, "CEOs made decisions in the best interest of their companies in response to the government's efforts to create a favorable business environment, including water, electricity, land, infrastructure, workforce training, and residential conditions, as well as the persuasion and requests of public officials."

He further stated that such actions fall under "administrative guidance" or "development administration," not abuse of authority or coercion. The government creates the business environment to achieve the policy goal of balanced national development, and companies make their own investment decisions based on profitability and strategic necessity.

In particular, President Lee also cited evaluation data from the previous Yoon Suk-yeol administration as a rebuttal to continued criticism from the People Power Party. Sharing reports that Gwangju and Jeonnam received top marks for infrastructure and business potential in the 2023 Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's national advanced strategic industry semiconductor cluster bidding process, President Lee said, "This was already officially confirmed by the People Power Party government," urging party members to "refrain from making strange remarks about the Honam semiconductor site." In doing so, he highlighted that the site selection was not a politically motivated plan devised by the current administration.

On June 27 alone, President Lee posted six related messages. In a morning post, he wrote, "Samsung and SK hynix, the world's top-ranking advanced semiconductor companies, are not foolish enough to plan a mega-scale factory in a region without sufficient water supply without due diligence," and added, "The government would not encourage building a factory in a region without water." In subsequent posts, he said, "Buddhas see Buddhas, pigs see pigs. People often assume that others will think and act as they do," raising his voice against such assumptions.

President Lee Jae-myung is speaking at the 'Future New Security Innovation Enterprise Development Strategy' meeting held at the Blue House on June 26, 2026. Photo by Yonhap News

Meanwhile, Kim Yongbeom, policy chief at the Blue House, also joined President Lee in responding. Kim stated on Facebook, "A common counterargument is why the government is involved in private-sector investments. But that is the wrong question," explaining, "What the government is building is a production platform. This is not a problem that individual companies can solve, but one that only the national and local governments can address."

He added, "Now, in the AI era, the next growth engine is before us. Youth employment, new industries, and new cities will ultimately be built on this productive capacity," and wrote, "What we are building now is the future productive capacity of Korea. 'Fab Capacity is King.'"

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.