President Yoon Suk-yeol, right, visits a laboratory of IMage Guided Therapy, a developer of a nanotechnology-based gene and drug delivery system, prior to attending an emergency economic meeting at a health care innovation facility in Seongnam, south of Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap

President Yoon Suk-yeol vowed Wednesday to foster the bio-health industry into a key national strategic industry as he met with health experts at a medical research facility.

Yoon chose the Healthcare Innovation Park at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, just south of Seoul, as the venue for this week's emergency economic and public livelihood meeting.

"The bio-health sector simultaneously protects our people's health and is directly related to our economy's growth through its creation of new and high-income jobs," the president said while presiding over the meeting.

"The government has plans to foster the bio-health industry into a key national strategic industry," he said.

Yoon promised to establish a "K-bio vaccine hub" and expand financial support to allow businesses to focus on developing "blockbuster" new drugs and vaccines.

He also called for modifying regulations to facilitate investment and research and development in the bio-health sector, saying he will ensure licensing and evaluation periods are drastically reduced to enable AI-based and digitally innovative medical devices to be quickly deployed to the field. (Yonhap)