Six industrial Clusters to boost economy by 2014

Korea will build six industrial clusters by 2014 with 40 area-specific projects that will generate 25,000 jobs and 10 trillion won ($8.68 billion) in sales, the government said yesterday.

To this end, Seoul will inject 285 billion won this year alone to help support 1,650 SMEs, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.

The latest move comes as the first three-year industrial cluster development program is set to end in April.

The ministry said the first-stage program helped create some 17,600 jobs at 1,100 participating companies and organizations, and generated a total of 8.8 trillion won in combined sales and $5.5 billion in exports.

“The second-stage program will be further refined to help create more jobs, develop human resources and build regional industrial niches,” the ministry said in a press release.

Under the new program, the central region of South and North Chungcheong will build an industrial cluster specializing in medicine and biotechnology, along with semiconductor and renewable energy technologies.

The southwestern resort island of Jeju will become the home of the country’s indigenous wind power plants and health food products, with eastern Gangwon set to house an industrial cluster of companies engaged in ceramics and non-metallic parts and materials, in addition to “healthtainment,” a term used to describe the combination of health and tourism.

Yonhap