Good morning, fellow Koreans,

Last week, we opened a space age by launching the Naro into the vast universe. The Naro that blasted off the launch pad with an earth-trembling roar is the symbol of our vision of becoming a space powerhouse and of the challenge to do so.

Despite repeated failure, our scientists never caved in but learned from each setback and accumulated experience. They have continued to take up the challenge over and over again to develop more sophisticated technologies and finally brought great joy to all Koreans.

I am deeply grateful to the people for their patience and confidence in the potential of our scientists. My warmest congratulations and encouragement go to Dr. Cho Gwang-rae, the head of the Korea Space Vehicle Program Office, and all other scientists who have worked so hard separated from their families even during weekends and on holidays.

Fellow Koreans,

Over the past six decades, the history of the Republic of Korea has been punctuated by challenges and responses. It has been a history of making the impossible possible. People call what Korea has achieved a miracle or the stuff of legend, but it has been possible only because of our sweat, tears and dauntless spirit of meeting challenges head-on.

In carving out a future, it is important for our young people to carry on with such a spirit. Ahn Chang-ho, a prominent independence activist, once said that despair is the death of youth, and the death of youth is the death of a nation.

With the country’s economy getting worse, it is true that some groups of young people tend to avoid taking on challenges. Over the past five years, however, I have seen a bright future for the Republic of Korea in the many of our young people who are in pursuit of great ideals.

Students graduating from Meister high schools this week, the first-ever graduating class, are such brilliant young people. They are capable and competent young people equipped with a competitive edge rising above the barrier of academic background.

Three years ago, the Government established Meister high schools with a view to fostering talented people in technology, who will lead “Korea, the technology powerhouse” and find many favorable opportunities in businesses. These high schools provide students with dormitory rooms and full government scholarships for three years and help graduates earn a degree while working. The Meister high school students can find jobs upon graduation and will be given opportunities to enter college when they feel the necessity of more professional knowledge while working in businesses.

Only three years since their establishment, the results demonstrated by these schools are truly amazing. Even while the market is as tough as now for job seekers due to the global economic crisis, more than 92 percent of the 3,400 students graduating this year have already succeeded in landing a job. All the remaining students are also expected to find jobs pretty soon.

At the end of last year, a British magazine The Economist commented on Korea’s Meister high schools noting that a far-sighted country is reshaping vocational training by joining the hands of schools and businesses. Countries like China, Indonesia and Malaysia are now benchmarking the Korean model of Meister high schools.

With the popularity of Meister high schools rising thanks to their graduates’ high employment rate, many excellent students flock to enter the schools. As a result, there was an average of three applicants for each opening this year, showing a high competition rate. However, the situation was quite different when the schools were first opened three years ago. Making up one’s mind to enter a Meister high school was not an easy task. Many students might have been influenced by those who think that a person needs at least a college diploma to live here in Korea, and they might also have felt enormous anxiety over an uncertain future.

A warm applause of encouragement goes to the courage of our students and parents who by overcoming such anxieties and taking on challenges to pursue new opportunities are taking the lead in building a society where individual abilities come before academic backgrounds. My thanks should also go to the many teachers who have nurtured the young Meisters with a sense of mission and the many sponsoring business leaders.

Full of passion and creative ideas, many young people are taking up challenges to start a new company. Over the past five years, the number of businesses established by young people has been on a steady rise. There are more than 300 venture businesses whose sales exceed 100 billion won, which is an all-time high.

At the end of last year, during the 141st session of the Meeting for Emergency Economic Measures, I had a chance to meet with college students who had started their own businesses and venture business leaders. Among them was Lee Jung-woong, the developer of everyone''s favorite mobile game, AniPang. His social network game company SUNDAYTOZ came into being on Sunday at a café named Toz because he did not have his own office. For that reason, the company came to have its name as SUNDAYTOZ.

President Kim Chul-young of Mirae Nano Tech Inc. once worked at a conglomerate. To live up to his dream of doing what he likes and can do well, he started his own business and developed optical films that are superior to that of the American company 3M, the world’s top manufacturer. Last year, Mirae Nano Tech met its sales goal of 300 billion won, which helped him rise to the rank of successful business leaders. Notwithstanding, he is still hard pressed day by day. And he has not had even a single good night''s sleep following the founding of the company.  

“A lot of people ask me why I am in the business. Thinking about it, I have realized that ultimately I am doing what I do in order to be happy. Happiness, to me, is succeeding in something that I want to do. It is running with all you have to make your dream or your goal a reality. In action, this translates into tenacity and passion, which go on to bear their own fruit. If you set big goals and spend each day in preparation and hard work, never losing sight of what you want, your dreams will come true. I have no doubt.”

It is because we have entrepreneurs such as these, unafraid to rise to the challenge, that the future of Korea is so bright.

The young Koreans who are going to all the far corners of the world with this same spirit, they too are pioneers of the Korean Route, their steps lighting the road before us. Jeong Yeo-jin, a female engineer that I met during my state visit to countries in the Middle East, for example, has made a name for herself under the hot desert sun as one of the region’s most talented expert technicians.  

Automotive designer Lee Il-Hwan, who began working for Mercedez-Benz in his late 20s, became head of one of the company’s advanced design centers within eight years. Though he often got discouraged, he says that he was able to make it this far because he loved what he was doing and he refused to give it up for anything.

The Government has been running a global youth leadership training program since 2009 for young people like these whose great dreams stretch toward the wide world. Each year, approximately 2,000 young people are provided with opportunities to intern abroad. 

Still other young people are volunteering under harsh conditions in remote areas around the world. With their service, they are sowing seeds that will be reaped as true friendship between the people of these impoverished nations and Korea. One and all, these young people are building Korea into a mature international leader.

Fellow citizens,

No matter the difficulties affecting the world economy, our lives will only ever be what we make of them. Moreover, it is often in the midst of crisis that we discover unforeseen opportunities. The fact that the young people of Korea are aspiring to such great things is heartening, and I am confident that a luminous tomorrow awaits the nation. 

I, along with my fellow public servants, will work until the end with the same dedication of past days. With attention to the daily lives of the people as well as national security, the Government will do its utmost to enable a smooth transition between administrations and the implementation of sound practices in public administration and in the transfer of duties. 

Thank you all very much.