President Park Geun-hye instructed officials Tuesday to come up with plans for disaster management based on science and technology in the latest call to make South Korea a safer country.
   
She said science and technology are critical in the process of coping with disasters, noting that the number of disasters -- both natural and man-made -- jumped dramatically in the past decades.
   
"We should shape up disaster management and public safety based on science and technology," Park said in a meeting with a science and technology advisory committee at the presidential office.
   
She also said early human intervention can make a huge difference in disaster management.
   
The comments came a month after she tapped former Navy Adm. Park In-yong as head of the new ministry that handles all sorts of disasters and safety problems.
   
Park has created the Ministry of Public Safety and Security as part of efforts to boost safety following April's deadly ferry disaster that left more than 300 people dead, mostly high school students on a school excursion. (Yonhap)