President Lee Jae-myung Proclaims 'San Francisco AI Declaration' During Visit

First Multilateral Stage for Lee Administration: Background and Significance of 'San Francisco AI Declaration'

President Lee Jae-myng will embark on his first multilateral diplomatic stage starting on the 24th, touring the U.S. and three South American nations. The core agenda of this visit is the announcement of a vision for global cooperation on artificial intelligence (AI) in San Francisco. The government plans to proclaim the 'San Francisco AI Declaration' at this venue, aiming to strengthen Korea's position amidst intensifying competition for technological supremacy. This move is evaluated not merely as a diplomatic event but as a strategic starting point for building a next-generation industrial ecosystem.

From an economic perspective, the AI industry is directly linked to Korea's core export items, such as semiconductors and system software. Given the high interest of global big tech in domestic corporate infrastructure—exemplified by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's recent ceremonial first pitch in Korean baseball—this declaration is expected to open the floodgates for massive investment attraction and technological partnerships. However, in an environment where vast capital is converging, President Lee has previously called for swift improvements to the single-stock leveraged ETF system to prevent reckless investment by individual investors. Ensuring market stability has emerged as a pressing priority.

Regulation on 'Unearned Real Estate Income' and Household Debt Risks

To improve economic fundamentals, the government is pouring its efforts into resolving structural contradictions in the real estate market. President Lee has defined unearned real estate income, often derived through illegal and expedient methods, as a primary obstacle to national integration and has emphasized the need to overhaul the tax system. He identified this as a main cause of deepening asset inequality, household debt, and the alienation of the youth. To concretize this, a presidential real estate debate was held on the 23rd, and with over 2,000 opinions submitted to the government's online homepage within a week, discussions are heating up.

Inextricably linked to this policy direction, the issue of the sale of the President's personal assets has also become the center of political contention. While selling an apartment in Yangji Village, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province for 2.9 billion won, the President established a mortgage lien worth 1.77 billion won, naming the buyer as the debtor. The People Power Party launched a counteroffensive, criticizing the opposition party's regulatory stance on unearned real estate income. With key opposition figures like Kim Yong-beom putting President Lee's real estate policy on the chopping block, the People Power Party has centered its offensive on this mortgage issue. They argue that the massive mortgage established during the ownership transfer impacts the market and constitutes unearned income that must be returned to the public.

Intensifying Policy-Legislative Competition…Market Ripple Effects and Future Outlook

These two core issues are analyzed to have a significant impact on the macroeconomy and capital markets, regardless of diplomacy or domestic affairs. First, building a global technology cooperation framework through the AI Declaration will clearly benefit representative domestic semiconductor companies like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. It is expected to lead to expanded investment and job creation in related industries, serving as a catalyst for revitalizing the real economy. However, to prevent market disruption caused by investment in financial products riding on short-term momentum, precise institutional improvements by financial authorities must accompany these measures.

The real estate market is also shaking as tax overhaul logic and housing supply logic collide head-on. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon issued a stance rebutting Blue House Policy Chief Kim Yong-beom's views on the housing market. He argued that reconstruction and redevelopment are the master keys to housing supply and strongly advocated for restoring market logic through regulatory easing. How the two tasks—regulation of unearned income for housing stability for the common people and expanding supply for actual end-users—will find an intersection will determine the future trajectory of the real estate economy.

The technological cooperation outcomes derived from President Lee's first visit schedule and the tax reform plans agreed upon at the domestic real estate debate are closely linked. The blueprint is for value creation through innovative industries to naturally replace the existing economic structure based on unearned real estate income. The capital market is expected to keep a close watch on the government's upcoming detailed implementation plans and the level of regulatory rationalization, displaying defensive investment behavior. It is projected that the market will secure stable upward momentum only when economic figures show tangible improvement in fundamentals.