Korea has big plans to turn the country's administrative hub of Sejong and the southeastern port city of Busan into test beds for the realization of 'smart cities.'
In line with the fast approaching fourth industrial revolution, the government hopes to turn those cities into the cities of the future by 2023.
Kim Hyesung tells us more.
The government's committee on the Fourth Industrial Revolution held its first meeting of the year on Monday... to discuss measures related to the so-called smartcity framework -- a way of using information technology to improve the way cities are run.

"The fourth industrial revolution has a huge effect socioeconomicaly. Smart city is a platform using related technologies and services. Today, we will deliberate on a smart city development plan that has been worked on by government officials and private sector experts since last November."

The smart city platform combines infrastructure, technology and services.
It uses tech like the Internet of Things and big data to share information on things like traffic, transportation or the weather,... which improves efficiency... by saving energy and labor costs.

Our smart city plan is based on the stage of a city's development. It distinguishes between new cities and old cities. For new cities, smart technologies will be applied from the design stage to final construction... to drive innovative growth."

One of the "new cities" is in an area in Busan and another is in the country's administrative hub of Sejong.
They'll become testbeds for cutting edge technologies like artificial intelligence, smart farms and driverless cars.
For instance, the government envisions a city connected by the internet of things, electric vehicles powered by renewables, and deliveries by drone, all of which would help increase efficiency.
As for existing, so-called old cities, the government plans to save energy by using renewable sources as a form of urban power generation.
The broad picture has been unveiled, but it's still in its intial stage.
For the plan to be carried out in a sustainable way, details need to be fleshed out on things like the government's budget, cooperation between the private and public sectors, and a system for for evaluating performance.
Kim Hyesung, Arirang News.