President Moon, in his New Year’s briefing, emphasized on change, inclusiveness, fair trade and peace. Attended by 250 high economic and government officials, the briefing presented Moon’s will to make it happen. Some of the notable social figures also made appearance: Darcy Paquet who made English subtitles of the Korean film <Parasite>, PD Yeana Leeseul, diver Suji Kim and FIFA U-20 national team manager Jeongyong Jeong. Moon said that we were convinced last year that walking together is better than walking faster alone and we will keep the pace to change, inclusiveness, fair trade and peace this year: in order to do this, reform in public institutions must be made first.

Moon tours ecofriendly vehicle export sites
President Moon toured the ecofriendly vehicle export sites in Danjin and Pyeongtaek on January 3 and encouraged workers and officials. Pyeongtaek Regional Office of Oceans and Fisheries Director General Taesuk Kim said that the harbors in Dangjin and Pyeongtaek processed 113 million tons of cargos last year including 1.5 million vehicles, securing the No.5 in rank among export harbors in South Korea. Moon said that we target to be among top 4 export countries in the world by 2030 and ecofriendly vehicle will play an important role: adding the need of cooperation between capable Korean small and medium core parts companies and large companies. Moon then tried a ride on the ecofriendly vehicle that is to be the first export car in the year 2020. A total of 7,300 units are to be loaded on Sunrise cargo ship to Europe.

Moon receives briefings from MSI and KCC
President Moon received briefings from the Ministry of Science and ICT, and the Korea Communications Commission at the Daedeok Science Town on January 16. The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute in the town has led innovation in South Korea for the last 50 years and made a great contribution to commercializing the world’s first CDMA and DRAM. Moon expressed his special thanks to Dr. Geumsil Kang who joined development of GEO-KOMPSAT-2, KAIST professor Heojun Yoo who is a global semiconductor authority, Dr. Taehyun Jeong who joined a black hole survey, and Dr. Sungyeon Hwang who developed biodegradable plastic. Moon emphasized on the government’s 24 trillion won ($20 billion) national R&D budget and said that the government is unsparingly supporting for fostering talented young scientists. Moon also mentioned the recently passed Data Protection Law which will enable industry specialists to carry out mix and match of a variety of data for advancement of AI and core technologies. The government targets to pour 30 trillion won to build nationwide 5G network by 2022.