President Park Geun-hye called Monday for the development of the carbon industry as a source of new jobs and businesses, saying the material has emerged as a substitute for steel.
  
Park made the remarks at the opening ceremony of an "innovation center" in Jeonju, 243 kilometers south of Seoul, on her first visit to North Jeolla Province since taking office in February last year.
   
Innovation centers were launched by the Park administration in September under a plan to nurture local startups and venture firms with the assistance of conglomerates.
   
The Jeonju center, named C'incu Space -- a combination of the words "creative," "carbon," "culture" and "incubating" -- is the third one to open after similar centers were opened in the southeastern city of Daegu and the central city of Daejeon.
  
The new center has been linked with Hyosung, which has businesses mainly in the fields of energy and heavy industry.
   
"The North Jeolla center must make the most of its regional characteristics and become a base for the realization of a 'creative economy' where traditional industries are in harmony with future industries," Park said.
   
One of the Park administration's key objectives is to build a creative economy that mixes up science and technology, culture, IT and other realms to produce new jobs and businesses.
   
The Jeonju center is expected to focus especially on developing the carbon industry, after Hyosung completed construction of a carbon fiber plant in the city last year.
  
"The carbon fiber produced at the Hyosung plant is drawing attention as the 'rice of future industries,' which could replace steel that has been the basic material for manufacturing for thousands of years," Park said, apparently drawing on North Jeolla's image as the nation's food basket.
   
"We must make sure that startups and venture firms can actively join the industry behind the application of strong and light carbon fiber to various products," she added. (Yonhap)