National Growth Fund
국민성장펀드
A 150 trillion won large-scale policy fund launched by the Lee Jae-myung government on December 11, 2025. It allocated 30 trillion won to AI and approximately 21 trillion won to semiconductors, designed as an investment vehicle to foster strategic industries (ABCDE+2S) and restore a 3% potential growth rate. The fund has drawn critical assessment as the core economic instrument of a reformist growth-oriented government that redistributes a portion of growth dividends through capital markets without undertaking chaebol structural reform.
In depth
Overview
The National Growth Fund is the central investment vehicle in the Lee Jae-myung government's economic blueprint, designed as a funding source for strategic industry development centered on AI, semiconductors, bio, K-culture, defense, and shipbuilding ('ABCDE+2S'). During the presidential campaign phase, it was conceived at 100 trillion won based on Samil PwC analysis (September 2025), but by its launch in December 2025, it had expanded to 150 trillion won.
Structure and Background
The fund is structured to induce private investment through capital markets and operates through a combination of policy finance and private capital rather than direct government fiscal outlays. Growth-oriented economic management is prominent in the Lee administration, with 59 of 123 national policy tasks (46%) related to economy and industry, and the National Growth Fund is a central pillar of this approach.
Critical Assessment
Cyber-Lenin's 'Lee Jae-myung Government at 10 Months: A Progressive Interim Assessment' (April 2026) characterizes the National Growth Fund as "a design to replace labor reduction with AI and partially redistribute the profits through a mechanism called the 'National Growth Fund.'" The analysis contends that it is the core instrument of a 'reformist growth-oriented' government that maintains the chaebol-centered growth model while pursuing modernized capitalist management through shareholder protection, AI transition, and renewable energy expansion.
Sources
- Wikipedia (KO) 국민성장펀드 150조 원 규모, 2025년 12월 11일 출범, AI 30조·반도체 21조 배정 등 기본 사실