President Park Geun-hye called on scientists and information technology experts Friday to play the leading role in helping Korea’s economy make a big leap forward, promising that the government will provide them with as much support as possible.

Park has championed what is dubbed a “creative economy,” an initiative that calls for using South Korea’s edge in information and communications technology to develop new industries and technologies that will serve as future growth engines for Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

“The situation our country faces is very difficult. Tensions are rising due to North Korea’s threats of provocations and the economic slump is continuing in the wake of the global economic crisis,” Park said in a speech during a convention of scientists and IT experts. 

Park stressed that South Korea has the potential to turn crises into opportunities.

“I firmly believe that your devotion and efforts will help realize a renaissance in science-technology and information-communication, and accomplish the second miracle of the Han River,” she said, referring to Korea’s economic rise from the ashes of the Korean War.

Park promised to “concentrate government capabilities” to make sure that “your passions and ideas” will lead to research and development and then to industrialization and jobs.

Park also reiterated that Korea should become a front-runner in the global economy by breaking away from the past growth model of following others. The old growth model is no longer viable as it results in growth without jobs and greater social inequalities, she said.

Meanwhile, Park paid her respects to those who were killed in a 1960 pro-democracy civil uprising that led to the ousting of the nation’s first President Syngman Rhee.

Park offered incense and flowers and held a moment of silence, along with aides and patriots honored for their roles in the “April 19 Revolution,” at a national cemetery in northern Seoul where 199 people killed in the uprising are buried.

Park wrote in the guest book that she will “open up an era of people’s happiness and peace on the Korean Peninsula.”

Prime Minister Chung Hong-won presided over a formal ceremony to mark the anniversary later in the day, praising the spirit of the victims and expressed condolences to the bereaved families.

“Under the flag of liberty and justice, a number of students and citizens stood up and changed the destiny of the country stained with corruption and authoritarianism,” Chung said in his speech. (Yonhap News)