Deputy Prime Minister Jin Nyum said Wednesday that the government will train 200,000 people to be information technology (IT) professionals by 2005.

Jin, who is also Finance and Economy Minister, delivered a policy speech outlining how the government intends to make the nation's economy more information-oriented in a meeting organized by the National Assembly Knowledge & Economy Research Association.

Jin said that the nation is heading toward a knowledge-based economy as the IT industry's share of real gross domestic product (GDP) grew to 16.1 percent for the first nine months last year from the 7.7 percent recorded in 1997.

Jin noted that with the emergence of a new economy, the government's role will change from controller to system's manager.

As a result, he said the administration will establish systems where information is easily generated, shared and distributed.