President Yoon Suk-yeol used his New Year's address Sunday to call for new export strategies in South Korea to overcome external crises that threaten an economic recession, vowing to personally attend to the nation’s export strategies and focusing diplomacy on the economy.

Stressing the importance of exports to Korea, Yoon said it was time to change its export strategy, as protectionist trade policies were undermining the world's joint efforts to tackle inflation, global supply chain disruptions and raw material price volatility.

"Our export strategy must differ from the past," Yoon said in the presidential office in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

Countries that share universal values of freedom, human rights and the rule of law are banding together through their economies and industries, and this “solidarity based on these universal values is the most strategic choice” in the current diplomatic landscape.

Yoon said infrastructure construction, nuclear power plant construction and the defense industry would be new economic drivers. He vowed to expand overall trade finance to a record-high of 360 trillion won ($285 billion) this year to clinch a combined $50 billion in overseas orders.

Korea saw an all-time high trade deficit of $47.2 billion due to a sharp increase in imports of energy resources such as oil, natural gas and coal. It was Korea's first trade deficit in 14 years.

Yoon also pledged to ramp up "future strategic technologies" such as aerospace, artificial intelligence and bio-engineering, highlighting the past commitment such as the 30-trillion-won government spending in research and development, as well as a space rocket launch in June.

In his message, Yoon put forward the three key pillars that his conservative administration aims to reform -- labor market, education and pension scheme.

Under Yoon's plan, more companies will be encouraged to replace their seniority-based compensation systems with performance-based pay, to enhance flexibility in the labor market. This tallied with the hardline stance against labor unions that the Yoon administration has taken, notably on the cargo truckers' strikes in 2022.

Education reforms will seek to aid balanced regional development, mainly by linking provincial universities to specific industries.

Yoon also called for prompt legislation and a social consensus to reform the publicpension system, which he said "cannot be guaranteed" unless financing deficits were tamed.

The New Year's message followed Yoon's visit to the Seoul National Cemetery at 8 a.m. with 40 government officials, including ministers, to pay respect to fallen Korean patriots.

"Together with our great people, I will dearly make Korea achieve a new leap forward," Yoon wrote in a guest book.

(consnow@heraldcorp.com)