Minister Im Hye-sook Makes First Appearance as Zepeto Avatar, Meets MZ Generation

Meeting on Establishing Youth Support Policies in the Digital Sector

[Asia Economy Reporter Joesulgina] An 'avatar' minister with short hair, glasses, and a gray suit appeared on Zepeto, Korea's representative metaverse (extended virtual world) platform. This is Minister Lim Hyesook of the Ministry of Science and ICT, who oversees domestic ICT policies. Before preparing youth support policies in the digital sector, she chose the metaverse space familiar to the MZ generation as a communication channel with them.

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT on the 27th, Minister Lim met with 2030 software (SW) developers and startup CEOs in a virtual meeting room set up on Zepeto that morning in the form of an avatar. Naver Z's Zepeto, which features 3D avatars, is a metaverse platform that has surpassed 200 million cumulative users. Although marketing and conferences using metaverse platforms have recently surged in Korea, this is the first time a government minister has chosen the metaverse for an official schedule.

The meeting was conducted as a way for Minister Lim to gather opinions from the youth. Participants included Jin Heekyung (32), CEO of Nalbi Company, an AI video analysis startup; Jin Yurim (28), a frontend developer at Viva Republica; Bang Yosep (29), a developer at SY Company; and Do Wonwoo (30), CEO of Replace, a spatial regeneration startup.

Appearing as avatars reflecting their personalities like Minister Lim, they suggested the need for support that young people can truly feel, including ▲expanding educational opportunities such as online and customized digital education, ▲detailed support for high school graduates and freelance developers, and ▲support for digital transformation of youth enterprises in various fields such as distribution and services.

Youth support policies in the digital sector are considered a key agenda that Minister Lim is personally overseeing this year. At this meeting, the Ministry of Science and ICT also revealed policy directions to enable young people to 'challenge freely, grow bigger, and leap into a wider world' in the digital field. The plan is to strengthen collaboration between the private sector and government to provide a larger growth stage for youth and foster digital new industries preferred by them. They will also promote restructuring of overseas expansion support systems to prepare for the post-COVID-19 era.

Minister Lim said, "Our youth, based on high educational levels and digital capabilities, are a generation that triggers new changes in Korea's economy and society overall and is not afraid of exchanges and competition with the world. Starting with today's meeting, we will create support policies that sincerely reach out to young people through various opinion-gathering processes."

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