In the 1930s, the President of the United States at the time, Frankelin D. Roosevelt, enacted his 'New Deal', a name that encompasses the actions and measures taken to combat the Great Depression. Now, almost a century later, South Korean President Moon Jae-In is hoping to do the same. 

In this stunning undertaking, South Korea looks to end its history of pollution, as well as create jobs to kickstart its flatlining economy due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Read on to find out more about this ambitious project from an excerpt of a Forbes article!

South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in, adopting the historic American name, is introducing his own “New Deal” to combat the economic setbacks caused by the coronavirus and sharply declining exports of Korean manufactured goods.

Moon, outlining the basic reasons for a broad program that is expected to go on for years, promised what he said would be “unprecedented investment in the Korean version of the New Deal.” The government, he said, would commit approximately 114 trillion won, $94.5 billion, into New Deal projects in just five years.

Korean companies and local provincial and city governments would be expected to invest upwards of another 45 trillion won, $37.2 billion, bringing the grand total to 160 trillion won, nearly $132.6 billion.

The program, like the American New Deal of the 1930s, places great emphasis on the need to provide work for jobless people at a time when the number of unemployed have risen to a high of 4.5%, according to the latest government statistics. While that number may not seem overwhelming, the youth unemployment rate of slightly more than 10% is particularly troubling.

Finance Minister Hong Nam-Ki unveils details of the ambitious new project.

Moon, promising 1.9 million new jobs, listed ten areas that he predicted would turn the economy around. The emphasis was on advances in new technologies and the environment, including artificial intelligence, digitalization, green energy, even a “smart green industrial complex.”

“The Korean version of New Deal,” he outlined, would be “a starting point for a for a leap forward to a country to lead the world.” It was, he proclaimed, “a starting point for a leap forward to a country to lead the world.”

Perhaps it's time for Singapore to adopt some of these measures!

If you want to read about Singapore's recession, click here!