By Xu Aiying

President Lee Jae Myung on the occasion of the inaugural Defense Industry Day on July 8 said he hopes that the domestic defense industry further develops into a future growth engine.

He was speaking at the forum "K-Defense: Finding the Path to the Future" at the hotel Grand Hyatt Seoul in the capital's Yongsan-gu District.

"The defense industry not only firmly safeguards national security but also greatly contributes to stimulation of the economy and job creation," he said in his opening remarks. "The government will give greater attention and support to allow the defense industry to develop into a core sector leading Korea's future."

"In line with the rapidly changing security environment, we will develop state-of-the-art weapon systems using artificial intelligence (AI) and unmanned robots and build a healthy business ecosystem that goes beyond the industrial structure centered on big corporations to allow small and medium enterprises and diverse talent to participate."

In addition, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung told a news briefing the gist of what was said in a closed-door discussion the same day.

Participants unanimously stressed AI's importance and mentioned challenges in securing technological capacity, building infrastructure and accessing defense data. They also agreed on the pressing need to launch an integrated management system for defense data.

President Lee said he instructed the Cabinet to set up a control tower for defense industry exports, stressing the sector's importance to national security and jobs. He also pledged his administration's best efforts to streamline the related ecosystem to involve both the public and private sectors and expand global cooperation.

xuaiy@korea.kr