1分6合

President Yoon Suk-yeol gives remarks during a luncheon with participants of the WorldSkills Competition at Korea Job World in Seongnam, just south of Seoul, Dec. 16. Yonhap

President Yoon Suk-yeol held a luncheon with participants of this year's WorldSkills Competition on Friday and lauded their achievement in placing second overall.

Korea sent 51 contestants to the WorldSkills Competition 2022 Special Edition, which was held from September to November in 15 countries and regions, and won 11 gold medals, eight silver and nine bronze, to place second after China.

The gold medals were won in the categories of information technology, web technology, molds and cybersecurity, among others.

"The government plans to vastly reform the education system and greatly activate Meister high schools in order to produce large numbers of technical experts trained in the field and properly establish a system whereby these technicians can receive proper and just compensation, as they would in advanced nations," Yoon said in his remarks at the luncheon at Korea Job World in Seongnam, just south of Seoul.

Meister high schools are a type of vocational school.

Yoon had met with the team in September before they competed in the events. Korea hosted events for eight out of a total 61 skills, including cloud computing and 3-D digital game art, in Goyang, northwest of Seoul.

He was joined Thursday by first lady Kim Keon-hee, and representatives of companies that have actively hired skilled young people and sponsored their participation in the competition, including Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Emons Furniture CEO Kim Gyeong-su. (Yonhap)