Korean President Lee Jae Myung held his fourth presidential press conference at Cheong Wa Dae on Monday to mark his first year in office, vowing to secure South Korea's "absolute competitiveness" in advanced technologies, reaffirming the goal of denuclearising the Korean Peninsula, and flagging real-estate tax reform for a July announcement. The press conference is Lee's fourth since taking office last June, KBS World reported. Yonhap reported the denuclearisation vow as one of the headline lines from the session, delivered on the same day
Xi Jinping was in Pyongyang for his first state visit in seven years.
What did Lee say about denuclearisation? Lee said South Korea "must not give up" the goal of denuclearising the Korean Peninsula, Yonhap reported in flagging the line as breaking-news during the press conference. The reaffirmation lands at the same moment Pyongyang's eve-of-summit posture has publicly hardened against any nuclear concession.
What's the tech-competitiveness pitch? Lee vowed to secure "absolute competitiveness" in advanced technologies, Yonhap reported in successive lead updates of the speech. The framing positions tech policy as the structural-economy answer to the OECD's potential-growth-rate-record-low warning from the weekend, with the Han Seong-sook PM nomination supplying the IT-pioneer credential to back the policy line.
What's the real-estate tax move? Lee said real-estate tax reform is possible as soon as July and that a home-supply package would be announced soon, Yonhap reported. The combined tax-reform-plus-supply-package signal targets the housing-affordability question that has been a sustained domestic-policy issue, with the timing locked to a near-term July window.
How does the 1-year framing land? A fourth press conference inside 12 months sets a higher engagement cadence than most predecessors, KBS World reported, with the venue choice (Cheong Wa Dae) and timing (anniversary date) treated as deliberate forward-momentum signalling. The press conference doubles as a stage to reset the political narrative around the ballot-shortage crisis that ran through the previous week.
How does this fit the parallel Xi-NK weekend? Lee's denuclearisation reaffirmation lands the same hour
Xi Jinping is in Pyongyang reinforcing Beijing-DPRK strategic alignment, KBS World reported in linking the two events. The parallel calendars give Seoul a clear contrast moment with the bloc-coordination optics next door.
What survives the press conference? A Lee administration narrative built around tech-competitiveness, denuclearisation continuity and a near-term tax-reform package, Yonhap reported, with the policy specifics to land as separate announcements through July. The headline lines from the press conference set the policy frame; the implementation details remain to be filled in.