(Unofficial Translation)

I am glad to meet you all. I’d like to say hello to the children from Nokdo Island. You’re pleased to see me, Grandpa President, aren’t you? It is my great pleasure to meet our proud young digital leaders at this place where the metaverse is being created.

I was filled with emotions as I listened to the singer Lee Seok-hoon perform a harmonious duet with the AI-cloned voice of the late Kim Hyun-sik. Our young engineers created this stage that transcends time and space by using innovative digital technology to vividly bring back to life the voice of one who has departed. We just encountered a new world that was previously beyond imagination.

Young people are the beneficiaries of digital technologies and, at the same time, the main players spearheading digital innovation. I am truly proud of you.

Young people of Generation MZ, millennials and Generation Z, were born and raised in the digital environment. You are more familiar with digital technologies than any other generations. You are also unafraid of the digital world where imaginations and dreams are turned into reality.

You young people joining us today also possess your own new and innovative technology. You are heading AI- and data-based tech-driven startups.

Your drive to take on challenges has served as a growth engine to fuel a second venture boom. Thanks to your efforts, Korea’s ICT exports were able to post record-highs this year.

Korea ranked first in the OECD Digital Government Index, the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index on ICT adoption and the Bloomberg Innovation Index – outcomes that everyone has achieved together by pursuing innovation and taking on challenges.

Your world will be one where you produce, consume, live and dream through digital technologies. The Government will build the world’s leading digital foundation for future generations and stand by them to help them take on to the fullest any challenge in the digital world.

The Government laid the foundation for digital innovation by adopting the ICT regulatory sandbox; enacting the Framework Act on Data; and revising three data-related acts: Personal Information Protection, Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, and Credit Information Use and Protection. We announced a national AI strategy and established an industrial ecosystem of data, networks and AI through the world’s first commercialization of 5G technology. In addition, key digital technologies such as cloud computing and IoT are being advanced, and the metaverse and other new, hyper-connected industries are being fostered.

The Government will continue to push for digital innovation in all areas of the economy and society, including smart cities, smart factories and farms, telemedicine and smart banking. We will ensure that quality data can be used in various sectors through abundant “data dams” and lay the foundation for smart safety management and autonomous driving through the digitalization of infrastructure such as roads and railroads.

Digital innovation is for people. A people-centered, inclusive digital world will be created only when all citizens can benefit from digital technologies without any disparity.

We are already experiencing new daily lives created by digital technologies through the app designed to check the availability of publicly rationed facial masks, the mobile reservation system for COVID-19 vaccines and interactive online classes. Digital learning centers provide seniors with level-appropriate classes on how to use smartphones, book seats on the KTX and access smart offices. The advancement of communication networks in farming and fishing villages has allowed children living on small islands in the West Sea to receive video lectures. 

The Government will enact the Digital Inclusion Act to broaden digital access for people and areas that are digitally vulnerable and make sure that no one is excluded from the related benefits.

Our young people are at the center of the digital Republic of Korea.

Now, businesses are complaining about the shortage of software professionals in such areas as AI, big data and cloud computing. We will greatly enhance digital education and programs to train talented individuals to meet the needs of businesses and those of young people for decent jobs.

Today, I look forward to listening to first-hand accounts of the digital world you are creating and the future you dream of.

Thank you.