South Korea's Environment Ministry will spend nearly 700 billion won from the government's third extra budget on green growth projects as part of the "Korean New Deal" initiative to cushion the impact of the COVID-19 fallout.

On Wednesday, the ministry said it plans to create some 17-thousand new jobs through the projects worth 695 billion won that will involve transferring to low-carbon systems and fostering global green businesses.

More than 586 billion won, or 84 percent of the ministry's budget, will be used for low-carbon transition, such as expanding renewable energy production and innovating green industries through startup support.

The ministry will inject tens of billions of won towards establishing a safety net to better cope with climate and environment-related crises.

A project to digitize pollution measurement and monitoring systems is also in the works.