South Korea's 2045 Strategy Committee picks 17 core tasks for centennial vision
Synopsis
South Korea is building a 100-year vision — literally. The 2045 Strategy Committee, anchored to the centennial of Korea's liberation from Japan, has zeroed in on 17 priority tasks spanning AI, energy security, pension reform, and demographic survival. The government's own advisers are calling it a polycrisis — and the clock is ticking.
Key Takeaways
South Korea's 2045 Strategy Committee held its second meeting on 12 August in Seoul , selecting 17 priority tasks .
Prime Minister Han Seong-sook presided, calling for a strategy built on wisdom from all generations , not just the government.
The National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences diagnosed a polycrisis involving AI, demographics, climate, and geopolitical competition.
Key tasks include AI competitiveness , energy security , pension and welfare reform , and tech-friendly regulatory innovation .
The year 2045 marks the 100th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japan's colonial rule, giving the strategy symbolic and historical weight.
Final strategies are targeted for announcement by end of 2025 .
South Korea's 2045 Strategy Committee convened its second meeting on Wednesday, 12 August in Seoul, identifying 17 priority tasks that will form the backbone of the country's long-term national development blueprint — with final strategies slated for release by the end of 2025. The committee, launched in May, is tasked with charting a comprehensive roadmap for what the Republic of Korea should look like in 2045, the centennial of its liberation from Japanese colonial rule.
Why 2045 Carries Weight
The year 2045 holds deep symbolic significance: it marks exactly 100 years since Korea's liberation from Japan's 1910–1945 colonial occupation. The committee's mandate is not ceremonial — it is designed to systematically address structural challenges that have resisted conventional policy fixes, including polarisation, demographic decline, regional depopulation, and climate change.
What Prime Minister Han Seong-sook Said
Prime Minister Han Seong-sook, who presided over the second meeting, stressed that the strategy must be nationally inclusive rather than government-driven. 'The 2045 national development strategy should be a strategy for all people, not just the government alone. What's more important than anything else is to collect wisdom from all people across generations,' she said.
She added: 'We will try to select future-oriented, daring and challenging tasks to build an “irreplaceable Republic of Korea” in every aspect by 2045, the 100th anniversary of the liberation.'
The Polycrisis Diagnosis
During the meeting, the National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences presented a sobering assessment: South Korea faces a polycrisis — a confluence of AI transformation, demographic and climate crises, and intensifying geopolitical hegemony competition. Critically, the council flagged a 'double bottleneck' situation in which top-tier technologies are not translating into tangible economic outcomes, and the social consensus needed for reform remains fragile.
The council called for a fundamental redesign of both South Korea's innovative growth engine and its social operating system to realise the 2045 vision.
The 17 Priority Tasks
Among the 17 core tasks identified are: securing AI competitiveness, ensuring energy security, overhauling pension, welfare, and care systems to accommodate an ageing population, maximising human capital across youth, women, and older generations, and driving tech-friendly regulatory reform. Officials indicated the full list spans economic, social, and geopolitical dimensions.
What Comes Next
The committee aims to finalise and publicly announce its comprehensive national strategies before the close of 2025. With the second meeting now concluded, the panel is expected to accelerate consultations across generations and sectors to ensure the final blueprint reflects broad national consensus — a process Prime Minister Han described as central to the strategy's legitimacy and durability.
Point of View
But symbolic deadlines rarely substitute for institutional follow-through. The committee's insistence on cross-generational wisdom collection is admirable, yet the 17 tasks identified span such a wide arc — from AI to pension reform to regional depopulation — that prioritisation, not identification, will determine whether this becomes policy or pageantry.
NationPress
12 Aug 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What is South Korea's 2045 Strategy Committee?
The 2045 Strategy Committee is a government body launched in May 2025 to develop long-term national development strategies for South Korea, aimed at addressing structural challenges such as demographic decline, polarisation, climate change, and regional depopulation. Its work is anchored to 2045, the centennial of Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule.
What are the 17 core tasks identified by the committee?
The 17 priority tasks include securing AI competitiveness, ensuring energy security, reforming pension and welfare systems for an ageing society, leveraging human resources across youth, women, and older generations, and advancing tech-friendly regulatory innovation. Officials indicated the full list spans economic, social, and geopolitical dimensions.
What is the 'polycrisis' South Korea faces, according to the committee?
The National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences described a polycrisis involving simultaneous AI transformation, demographic and climate crises, and intensifying geopolitical competition. It also flagged a 'double bottleneck' where top technologies are not yielding tangible outcomes and social consensus for reform is weak.
When will the final 2045 strategy be announced?
The committee aims to announce its final national development strategies by the end of 2025, following further consultations across generations and sectors.
Why is 2045 significant for South Korea?
2045 marks the 100th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japan's colonial rule, which lasted from 1910 to 1945. The centennial gives the strategy both symbolic and historical significance as a national milestone.
