President Moon Jae-in presides over a national report session on the Korean New Deal at Cheong Wa Dae on July 14. (Photo on the courtesy of Cheong Wa Dae website)

The government came up with a master plan for a “Korean New Deal,” which will channel 160 trillion won into the economy and create 1.9 million jobs by 2025.

According to the plan, 101 trillion won, or 63 percent, will go to 10 representative tasks, including eco-friendly mobility and data dam to bear established outcomes.

President Moon Jae-in announced the Korean New Deal at Cheong Wa Dae on July 14, saying “The Korean New Deal is Korea’s paradigm shift to jump to a leading state.”

The plan calls for the government to pump-prime the economy by raising 114 trillion or 70 percent of the total expenditures. The private sector will shoulder the remaining 30 percent. The move represents the government’s dedication to the Korean New Deal based on public-private joint collaboration.

Explaining the background of the government’s unprecedented investment, President Moon said it is the government’s strong determination to transform the nation from a “follower economy” to a “first mover economy,” from a carbon-dependent economy to a low–carbon economy, and from an inequal society to an inclusive one.

As to the 10 core tasks of the Korean New Deal, President Moon said people will likely see changes during the term of the current government. The Korean New Deal is divided into short-term tasks, ending 2022, and long-term ones lasting until 2025.

The 10 core tasks include data dam, “intelligent” government and smart medical care infrastructure in the Digital New Deal Sector; green remodeling, green energy and eco-friendly future mobility in the Green New Deal Field; green smart school, “digital twin,” and public safety social overhead capital (SOC) digitalization, and smart industrial complex in the convergence sector.

The 10 core tasks will cost 101 trillion won. Out of the total amount, the eco-friendly mobility segment will have the biggest share with 20.3 trillion won, followed by data dam segment with 18.1 trillion won.

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun participated in the session as a representative company of the eco-friendly mobility sector. In a video conference connected during the session, Executive Vice Chairman Chung said Hyundai Motor Group aims to produce 1 million EV units with a market share of more than 10 percent by 2025.

“The future eco-friendly car business is related to the survival of Hyundai Motor Group, and it is a very important for the state,” he said.
During the session, Hyundai Motor Group displayed an FECV truck Hyundai Motor has begun to mass produce for the first time in the world and hydrogen fuel cell EV systems.

Executive Vice Chairman Chung revealed the group’s comprehensive econ-friendly car business blue-print by presenting Hyundai Motor’s future EV concept cars like Prophesy and Essentia.

Hyundai Motor plans to release next-generation full-fledged EVs, based on the exclusive platform (E-GMP).

The automaker designated next year as the first year of the automaker’s leap forward in the EV sector, he said.

“It will take 20 minutes, the shortest in the world, to charge next-generation EVs produced by Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, and they will travel 450 km per charge,” Chung said. Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors will release 23 EV models by 2025, and the automaker group will sell a over 1 million EV units combined, including Hyundai, Kia and Genesis models, to become a global leader with a marketing share of more than 10 percent.

Naver President Han Sung-suk was hooked up virtually to the session from Naver’s Chuncheon Data Center, which is equivalent to the combined size of seven soccer stadiums.

She said, “The Chuncheon Data Center is a great ‘Data Dam’ containing Naver users’ daily records and diverse information accumulated for the past 20 years.” President Han said he hoped diverse data analyzed through AI are going to be disclosed through cloud, and the free utilization of data for AI research and other industries would be pump-priming for the advancement of the 4th Industrial Revolution.

Speakers of the session included Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Hong Nam-ki of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and Chairman Cho Jung-shik of the ruling Democratic Party’s Policy Coordination Policy Committee.