S. Korea to invest 12.7 trillion won on job-generating digital New Deal in 2021

South Korea will spend 12.7 trillion won this year as part of its digital New Deal program, which targets pouring 58.2 trillion won into key tech investments to create around 900,000 jobs by 2025.

Of that amount, 7.6 trillion won would come from the central government with the rest to be shouldered by regional governments and the private sector, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT.

The ministry said 9.9 trillion won will be allocated for developing technologies based on data, networks, and artificial intelligence (AI), which includes self-driving cars and smart factories.

About 700 billion won will be spent on virtual services, such as smart medical systems and remote education.

The digitization of social overhead capital, such as installing road infrastructure with self-driving technology and updating the country's disaster-response system, will get a 2.1 trillion won funding.

The digital New Deal program is part of the Korean New Deal initiative, amounting to 160 trillion won until 2025.

South Korea spent 3.5 trillion won on digital New Deal projects last year, supporting the development of smart factories