Anchor: During an economy tour to North Chungcheong Province, President Moon Jae-in vowed active government support for the bio-health industry, which he designated as one of three major industries with the potential to become South Korea's future growth engines. 
Choi You Sun reports.

Report: Addressing the crowd at an event in Osong, North Chungcheong Province, home to South Korea's first bio-tech cluster, President Moon Jae-in said on Wednesday that the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries will soon become the country's new growth engines.

[Sound bite: President Moon Jae-in (Korean)]
"We plan to expand the global market share of the country's pharmaceutical and medical devices industry to six percent, increase exports to 50 billion dollars and foster the bio-health industry to become one of the five leading export industries by 2030."

While Seoul sees the biotech industry as an area with great potential for job creation, Moon said he will focus on fostering the bio-health sector, along with the non-memory system semiconductor and next-generation car industries.

[Sound bite: President Moon Jae-in (Korean)]
"We will particularly do our best to create an innovative ecosystem of the entire growth cycle from technological development to licensing, production, and market release, in order to assist the country's enterprises and venture companies become a driving force."

Moon pledged to expand the government's R&D fund to at least four trillion won a year by 2025 and promised various tax incentives and deregulation measures. 

Last year, South Korea's exports of medicine and medical devices totaled 14-point-four billion dollars, making up one-point-eight percent of the global demand.

Referring to attempts that failed due to a lack of funds for overseas clinical trials or specialized personnel for commercialization, Moon vowed that the government would help businesses and people realize their potential.

Moon's latest trip to North Chungcheong Province was the ninth stop of his "economy tour" around the country, which began last October.
Choi You Sun, KBS World Radio News.