President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed to make Busan New Port into a world-class smart port while turning South Korea's port and shipping industries into the best in the world.
 
The remarks came as Yoon attended the opening ceremony for a new automated terminal at Busan New Port on Friday, emphasizing that the competitiveness of the Busan Port needs to be improved further, vowing to make "a clear leap forward in the port and shipping industries."
 
Yoon also said that his government will push to build smart ports at Gwangyang Port and Incheon Port to create synergy between the country's ports, while creating a smart fund worth 500 billion won, or almost 370 million U.S. dollars to rebuild the port equipment industry and export domestic smart port system globally.
 
The South Korean president also promised to extend the tonnage taxation system where shipping companies pay taxes based on the net tonnage of their fleet, rather than their profits to help ease tax burdens.
 
Busan New Port is located in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, and is the first fully automated terminal in the country, with South Korea being the ninth country in the world to introduce a fully automated port.