President Moon Jae-in poses for a photo shoot after an MOU signing ceremony for establishing a bio-tech ecosystem on International Campus of Yonsei University on Nov. 18. From left are Kim Kyu-seok, CEO of Wiatek, Seo Jung-jin, chairman of Celltrion, Seo Byeong-jo, president of Incheon Techno Park, President Moon, Seo Seung-hwan, president of Yonsei University, Kim Tae-han, CEO of Samsung Biologics, and Lee Yong-ho, CEO of Junghyun Plant. (Photo on the courtesy of Cheong Wa Dae website)

President Moon Jae-in visited Songdo, which is home to the world’s largest biopharmaceutical production base, in mid-November. Songdo is aimed at growing into a global bio-tech cluster.

The President discussed a vision for Songdo and a strategy to grow the area into a bio-tech hub, together with those working in the bio-tech industry.

Songdo has attracted Korea's leading bio-tech companies, such as Celltrion and Samsung Biologics ,based on its excellent logistics infrastructure like airports and ports, as well as a number of universities and research labs.

“The reason Korea should focus more on the bio-tech Industry is clear and simple,” President Moon said. “The bio-tech industry is a future growth engine industry in which Korea can excel.

The bio-tech industry matches human beings’ desire to live healthy and longer. Thus, the longer people live, the more the bio-tech industry will prevail.”

“The bio-tech industry has economically infinite growth potential as well,” the president continued. “As the convergence of bio-tech and high-tech technologies accelerates, new markets such as digital healthcare, medical big data, and medical artificial intelligence are expected to grow at a high speed of over 20 percent per year.”

“Until a few years ago, Korea was only a follower in the bio-tech sector,” President Moon continued. “But the Korean bio-tech industry developed an antibody biosimilar in 2013.

At the moment, Korea is standing second in biopharmaceutical production. The nation is more confident than ever in this aspect.”

“We are turning the current crisis sparked off by the COVID-19 pandemic into an opportunity to save people’s lives and protect their health by combating the plague,” President Moon said.

“Korea’s bio-tech exports including pharmaceuticals and medical device exports have increased for 14 consecutive months despite a decline in Korea’s overall exports. Korea’s bio-tech exports surpassed $10 billion for the first time in history in the first 10 months of this year.”

“By 2023, 40 bio-tech companies will make new investments of more than 10 trillion won, creating 9,000 jobs through direct employment alone,” the president said, expressing his gratitude for bio-tech companies' active investment.

At the same time, he explained exactly how the government will support them, saying: “Now, Korea will grow into a powerhouse in the bio-tech industry by going beyond a bio-medicine production base.”

“First of all, by 2025, we will foster 47,000 bio-tech industry talents in cooperation with the private sector,” President Moon said. “I will help young people develop creative ideas and study freely.”

“We will create a bio-tech ecosystem so that new ideas can grow into specific businesses rather than stay at laboratories,” President Moon continued.

“We will foster regional clusters in Songdo, Wonju, Osong and Daegu as bridgeheads to innovation and win-win prosperity, and set up a cooperative system among the clusters.”

“We are overcoming the COVID-19 crisis, informing the world of the Korean bio-tech industry’s growth potential,” the President said.

“Let's consistently invest in the development of human resources and ideas, think freely, and move towards a better future,” “Korea’s dream of becoming a bio-tech industry powerhouse will surely come true.”

In the meantime, the Korean government said on Nov. 15 that a total of 15 countries, including Korea, 10 ASEAN member countries, China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, finally inked the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement at the fourth RCEP summit.

 The RCEP is a multilateral free trade agreement involving the ASEAN and five countries that have signed free trade agreements with the ASEAN.

In particular, the signing is quite meaningful in that they launched the world's largest free trade agreement at a time when global trade shrunk due to the COVID-19 crisis.

 The Korean government believes that the pact will greatly contribute to small and medium-sized Korean enterprises’ expansion and diversification of export markets in the future as exports amounted to US$269 billion under the RCEP framework in 2019.

 Above all, the ASEAN improved conditions for the spread of the Korean Wave by opening its markets not only for Korea’s core export items such as automobiles, parts, and steel, but for those of small and medium-sized Korean enterprises such as textiles and machine parts, and services such as games and movies.

 The Korean government expected that Korea’s exchanges and cooperation with RCEP member countries will further expand not only in the economic sector but also in the social and cultural sectors, a Korean government official explained.