President Moon Jae-in said Wednesday his administration will spend 848.5 billion won (US$718 million) by 2022 to bolster information security. “By strengthening the foundation of information protection, (the government) will protect the core infrastructure of the Fourth Industrial Revolution era such as big data, artificial intelligence and Internet of Things,” he said in a speech to mark the 8th Information Protection Day. His message was read out by Vice Science and ICT Minister Min Won-ki during a related ceremony held at Lotte Hotel World in eastern Seoul.

Moon said the government will “inject 848.5 billion won related to information protection from this year till 2022, expand the information security market to the size of 14 trillion won and create 10,000 jobs.” He stressed that information security, also called infosec, is the key to the success of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the sustainability of the data economy. “The Republic of Korea should become a country that handles data the most safely, not just a country that best uses data,” Moon said. In particular, he added, 5G networks are a main sector in the “data economy,” enabling data to flow up to 20 times faster than the existing communication system. On the basis of 5G, the government plans to create new services and markets such as smart cities, smart factories, and smart medical care.