Gov't Preparations for 4th Industrial Revolution

The South Korean government is seeking to accelerate the country's innovation-driven growth to prepare for the era of the fourth industrial revolution.

The government has set a goal of operating fully self-driving vehicles on public roads by 2022.

The government has also vowed to achieve a 3-percent economic growth and US$32,000 per capita GDP by forging ahead with an innovative policy of "taking the road not taken".

[Ko Hyeong-Kwon/First Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance]
"We will try our best to expand the sphere of the innovation to the fields of culture, tourism, education, environment and health care as well as all other economic and social sectors."

Seeking to start operating self-driving buses in Seoul and its surrounding areas in 2020, the government plans to set up systems and infrastructure to reach level-four autonomous driving which allows vehicles to run without a human driver.

The government plan includes deploying 3,700 drones by 2021 which offer services such as mail deliveries, land surveys, preventive quarantine, as well as forming a drone-bot combat unit.

In addition, the government targets to complete building the so-called "Smart City", that is designed to solve various urban problems with cutting-edge technologies, to let people move in by 2021.