South Korea plans to spend 2.4 trillion won ($2 billion) next year to help double the accumulated sale of hydrogen and electric cars, the finance minister said Tuesday, in the latest move to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said the government plans to provide more subsidies and other incentives to increase the supply of zero-emission vehicles.

Hong said the government aims to double the accumulated supply of eco-friendly vehicles to 500,000 units next year from an estimate of 250,000 units this year.

The government plans to expand subsidies for the purchase of eco-friendly passenger cars. The move will affect some 165,000 units of such vehicles, up from the current 75,000 units.

The country plans to set up an additional 60,000 charging devices for electric vehicles and increase the number of charging stations for hydrogen cars to more than 300.

Eco-friendly cars is one of the three key new sectors that the government is seeking to nurture to secure new growth engines, along with logic chips and bio-health.

Hong said the country will invest 6.3 trillion won in the three sectors next year, up 43 percent from a year earlier. (Yonhap)