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South Korea will invest over 1.28 trillion won (US$1.2 billion) this year to
help develop new information technology-based products and services, which
account for an increasing portion of the country's exports, the Ministry of
Knowledge Economy said Thursday.
The amount represents only a 1.2
percent increase from 2012, but the focus of the government investment has
significantly shifted from hardware products to new technologies and
software.
"The government seeks to help develop the global
competitiveness of the country's software industry based on its world-leading
hardware production capabilities," the ministry said in a press
release.
Of the total, more than half of the allocated money, some 783
billion won, will be invested in the development of new technologies with
another 393 billion won earmarked for the development of production facilities
and other infrastructure, according to the ministry.
Last year, South
Korea posted an IT trade surplus of $77.3 billion, up 2.9 percent from a year
earlier, as exports shrank at a slower pace than imports. The amount is 2.7
times larger than the country's overall trade surplus of $28.6 billion.