The government said Sunday it will inject 21 billion won ($19.4 million) in the next five years to support research and development that can allow local shipyards to enter the global luxury mega yacht market.

The plan calls for 1 billion won to be used this year to select a think tank that can undertake studies on the construction of such boats, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said.

The R&D plan comes as international demand for mega yachts that are at least 30.5 meters have grown by an average 10 percent in recent years, despite sluggish economic conditions.

These boats usually have a price tag of about 10 billion won with the overall market itself reaching 3.8 trillion won as of 2013.

South Korea despite being a leader in the building of large ships and a front-runner in the information technology sector, plays almost no part in leisure yachts. Its small and medium shipyards that could build such vessels are generally not up to the challenge of making the kind of investment in related R&D.

This shortcoming has made it impossible for the country to make inroads into the market dominated by Italian, Taiwanese and Chinese firms.

The ministry said it wants to have a blueprint for such yachts in nine months with related technology and know-how being acquired afterward so a prototype boat can be launched in five years. The technology will then be shared with yards that can use it as reference for their own boats. (Yonhap)