South Korea Doubles Spending Plan for ‘New Deal’ to Reshape Economy

South Korea more than doubled its spending plan for President Moon Jae-in’s “New Deal” program to 160 trillion won ($133 billion), underscoring its ambition to recover from the pandemic by reshaping the economy around technology.

The plan announced Tuesday by Moon is one of his biggest economic initiatives since coming to power in 2017. Facing its first economic contraction this year since the Asian financial crisis, the success of the project would help South Korea retain, or boost, its reputation as a regional economic powerhouse.