President Moon Jae-in expressed hopes for South Korea to become the first country to develop treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, after it became a global role model in the early development of test kits.

At a meeting with pharmaceutical companies, academics and researchers on Thursday, Moon said the development of a COVID-19 treatment and vaccine are mountains the world will have to climb, especially considering their urgency.

Moon raised hopes the country's developers will lead the race to find a cure to revive courage and confidence among the South Korean people, and to bring hope to the domestic economy.

Referring to Institut Pasteur Korea's drug repositioning study and biopharmaceutical companies' research into blood plasma treatments, the president called for cooperation among researchers, industries and the government.

Moon vowed government support to accelerate development, such as injecting 210 billion won into vaccine development and simplifying clinical trial approval procedures.