Lee Nak-yeon, "Proactive Support for 5 Core Technologies: Semiconductors, AI, Future Cars, Batteries, and Robots"

Selected 5 CoreTech National Strategic Technologies with Bold Support for R&D Facilities
Fostering World No.1 Companies through Bold and Proactive Investment in 5 Fields

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Former Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Nak-yeon proposed 'tech growth' as the third economic growth strategy to create a '70% middle class.' Lee selected five core tech sectors: semiconductors, AI, future cars, batteries, and robots, explaining that with bold preemptive support, South Korea will win the tech war and become a leading nation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the morning of the 20th, Lee held a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Office and announced this pledge, stating, "We are now in a new Cold War era of science and technology."

Lee said, "Among the 70 fields related to core tech, South Korean companies are world number one in only five," and added that core tech will be added to the 'national strategic technologies' promoted by the Moon Jae-in administration. He pledged to nurture more domestic companies to achieve global number one status through a national-level growth strategy.

To this end, he presented plans to secure research and development (R&D) infrastructure. He promised to reorganize research and policy systems in the R&D sector to be field-oriented, expand basic research, improve systems to strengthen universities and public research sectors, and prepare groundbreaking support measures.

He also proposed growth support measures for tech companies. Similar to support for small and medium enterprises, the mother fund will be increased from the current level of 7 trillion won to about 10 trillion won, and the capital of the Korea Technology Finance Corporation (Kibo) will be doubled. Intellectual property protection systems will be strictly enforced, with punitive damages strengthened against large companies that steal technology from SMEs, fostering an atmosphere for new technology development. Furthermore, emphasizing that the foundation of core tech lies in education, he promised to reform the science and technology education system.

Among the support plans for each core tech sector, Lee first presented measures to foster 'future cars.' Specifically, these include ▲relaxation of acquisition tax and individual consumption tax on future cars ▲discounts on public parking lots ▲restructuring of existing automobile-related fees such as congestion charges, highway tolls, and electric vehicle charging fees ▲raising the mandatory purchase ratio of future cars in public sectors such as the government ▲introduction of eco-friendly car purchase targets ▲installation of charging facilities in more than 50% of new apartments and expansion of charging facilities in existing residential areas ▲expansion of hydrogen charging facilities to about 2,000 and priority installation at highway rest areas ▲and providing tax and R&D support to future car parts manufacturers at the same level as complete car manufacturers.

Lee emphasized, "The only way to surpass Japan, the UK, and France, whose per capita GDP is around 40,000 dollars, is to win the 'tech war' based on science and technology." He added, "If we grow core tech sectors, including future cars, to a global level, more job creation will be possible. With an urgent mindset that tech growth is national security, we will make South Korea a 'first mover' through preemptive strikes."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.