By Xinhua,
Seoul : South Korea plans to inject 230 billion won ($172 million) to build up its information technology (IT) security industry over the next five years, the government said Monday.
According to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, the masterplan could create an 18.4 trillion-won ($13.8 billion) market in the IT security sector by 2013 which will effectively deal with growing illegal activities on the Internet.
The size of the domestic market is round 3.1 trillion won ($2.3 billion) at present, the ministry added.
“The negative side effects of the IT revolution are being felt around the world and development of a ‘risk-free ubiquitous’ environment is gaining momentum as a next generation growth industry,” said a ministry official.
Of the total investment, 150 billion won ($112.2) will go to research and development to the Internet security-related technology, while the remainder will fund the training of 3,000 experts and finding overseas markets for products developed, the ministry said.
The ministry expects the investment will create 30,000 new jobs in this sector.
It also envisions South Korea to export IT security products and services worth $3 billion by 2013 which will increase its global market share to five percent from the current 1. 74 percent.