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South Korea to make 5G and AI centrepieces of economy’s ‘New Deal’ in post-coronavirus era
- The initiative by newly re-elected South Korean President Moon Jae-in is expected to involve large-scale projects to boost jobs and innovation
- Plans include creating a fund to foster AI development, build sites for robot testing and support the roll-out of a nationwide 5G network
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South Korea will make artificial intelligence (AI) and 5G wireless communications the centrepieces of what it touts as a “New Deal” to create jobs and boost growth after the coronavirus pandemic subsides.
The government, in a statement on Thursday, said it will promote AI and the next-generation wireless technology to support the economy once the coronavirus is brought under control.
The statement did not say how much money would be spent, but that funding would come from a third emergency budget being drafted now and from annual budgets through 2022.
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President Moon Jae-in, after last month’s big election victory, said his government would pursue large-scale state projects to boost jobs and innovation in the post-coronavirus era.
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Moon compared his vision to the New Deal launched by President Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930s to help the United States recover from the Great Depression.
Economist Kim Jung-sik at Seoul’s Yonsei University said Moon’s plan was designed to help support newer, internet-based businesses, but probably would not involve the kind of spending that the term New Deal would seem to imply.
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