President Park Geun-hye on Wednesday demanded drastic deregulations in new growth industrial sectors such as drones, biotech and self-driving vehicles, claiming that “destructive innovation” is crucial for the nation’s economic momentum.
She also urged for the timely implementation of deregulation measures, to catch up with the speed of technology development.
President Park Geun-hye speaks during a meeting on regulatory reform at Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday. (Yonhap)
“Deregulation is the most effective way of maximizing the private sector’s creativeness and investment to build new growth sectors,” the president said at a meeting with senior officials in charge of regulatory reform.
“We should especially focus on preemptively lifting regulations that hinder new growth industries.”
She mentioned drones and self-driving cars as examples of new technology-based industries that should be freed from conventional regulations.
“These reforms should never be put off, as once new technology is out in the market it will be too late,” Park said.
The meeting, the fifth of its kind since its initiation in March 2014, was part of the Park administration’s move to respond to corporate complaints and revitalize the economy.
Following Wednesday’s session, the government is to approve all drone-related businesses, except those that may affect citizens’ safety or national security.
Also, the test operations of self-driving cars will be expanded across the nation and 3-D printers to produce medical devices will be introduced.
“But when it comes to the big data sector, more is to be done,” the president said, asking for eased rules in the protection of personal information.
The state-affiliated panel on investment in new industries has so far received 151 calls for deregulation and decided to abolish 141 or 93 percent of them, according to Cheong Wa Dae.
Reflecting the day’s discussions and complaints from local firms, the government will also draft guidelines on the range of information that wearable devices can gather by next month.
“It is also crucial that public servants grow out of their passiveness and step out actively in promoting industrial development,” Park added. She cited the example of Yeosu which recently induced foreign investment amounting to 100 billion won ($85 million) by persuading opposing environmental groups.
By Bae Hyun-jung (
tellme@heraldcorp.com)