President Lee Myung-bak said Wednesday his country should not be complacent about its future despite U.S. President Barack Obama's repeated praise for South Korea's accomplishments in various fields.
"The neighboring country, Japan, says (South Korea) is outrunning it and U.S. President Obama extols South Korea every day. Of course, South Korea is performing well (in many sectors) but he is citing South Korea in order to stimulate his own country," Lee said in a speech at an annual event to promote the development of local cities and provinces. This year's event opened in Daegu, some 300km southeast of Seoul.
Obama said Monday the U.S. needs to learn from South Korea's development of high-speed Internet and wireless mobile services. Obama earlier praised South Korea for its high economic growth rate, education system and human resource management in the science and technology field.
Lee stressed that South Korea should not be complacent, saying it is confronted with both opportunity and crisis.
He urged South Korean firms to redouble efforts to craft "core technologies," and pointed out that South Korea is struggling to maximize trade surplus due to a lack of core technologies like the production of batteries for mobile phones.
"Especially in the era of green growth, corporations should develop core technologies. It is a desperate task," Lee said. "Otherwise, South Korea will gradually degenerate into a second-tier nation."