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South Korean President Moon Jae-in delivers remarks while presiding over a “K-global vaccine hub vision and strategy” report meeting at the Blue House on Thursday. (provided by the Blue House)

South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced plans Thursday to turn South Korea into “one of the five global vaccine powers by 2025.”

His remarks came while he was presiding over a “K-global vaccine hub vision and strategy” report meeting at the Blue House that day.

“The government plans to name vaccines as one of three national strategic technology areas along with semiconductors and batteries, with 2.2 trillion won in investment over the next five years,” he said.

As part of this, he announced plans to “vastly expand tax benefits for research and development and facility investment” while “enabling domestic companies to maximize their production capabilities through self-sufficiency in the production and technology for necessary materials, components and equipment.”

Describing vaccines as the “most effective means of defense in a war with COVID-19 that shows no signs of ending,” he noted that a “vaccine developed by a domestic company is scheduled to begin Phase 3 clinical trials this month, with the country’s first vaccine expected to go on the market by the first half of next year.”

He also said that “efforts to develop next-generation mRNA vaccines are being sped up.”

Moon placed particular emphasis on South Korea’s role in relieving vaccine inequality.

“There has been an ongoing global shortage of vaccines, and with the severe disparities between countries in terms of vaccine distribution, we’re seeing an increasing vaccine inequality situation where some of the ‘vaccine-rich’ countries have been planning for booster shots, while the majority of low-income countries won’t even be able to complete their vaccinations by next year,” he said.

“In the end, the fundamental solution to this issue will have to be a historic increase in vaccine supplies,” he added, declaring that South Korea would “lead the way in solving the problem.”

In addition to these efforts to build a domestic vaccine industry ecosystem, he also announced plans to “cooperate closely to ensure that the global vaccine partnership agreed upon at the South Korea-US summit translates into real results, while also working to broaden our vaccine partnerships with other countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom.”

By Lee Wan, staff reporter

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