According to Yonhap News,

(SEOUL=Yonhap News) President Park Geun-hye called Thursday for more innovation in South Korea's research and development (R&D) area in her latest push to boost competitiveness in the country's science and technology sectors.

"There should be innovation in the country's R&D system to ensure the creative economy can succeed and create new technology and new industry," Park said in a speech at the state-run Korea Institute of Science and Technology in Seoul.

Park's signature creative economy policy calls for turning new ideas into real businesses with the help of cutting-edge science and information technology.

The president said the creative economy is the only viable growth engine for the country's economic takeoff.

Park's father, late President Park Chung-hee, set up the state-run institute in 1966 with US$10 million in aid that Washington offered to South Korea in gratitude for sending troops to fight alongside the United States in the Vietnam War.

South Korea has increased investments in science and technology over the past decades, a move that has contributed to Seoul's economic rise from the ashes of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The South Korean government invested 15.3 trillion won (US$13.4 billion) in R&D in 2014, up from 3.8 trillion won in 2000. In comparison, South Korean companies' combined investments jumped from 10 trillion won to 48.4 trillion won during the same period, according to government data.

Park also renewed her commitment to creating and presiding over a strategic council on science and technology to "drastically enhance productivity in our R&D investment."

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