President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed Thursday to provide full support to the rechargeable battery industry to ensure it maintains a lead over international competitors.

Yoon made the remark while presiding over a national strategy meeting, saying rechargeable batteries, along with semiconductors, are the "core of our security and strategic assets."

"I will provide full support so that our businesses can secure a gap of supremacy without being overtaken," Yoon said during the meeting at the former presidential compound of Cheong Wa Dae.

"The rechargeable battery industry is a sector where technological innovations are most active, and we must maintain a super-gap through technological innovations that dramatically improve quality and safety," he said.

Yoon noted that while South Korea's rechargeable battery industry is among the most competitive in the world, the challenges to maintaining that position are also large.

"If we are overtaken by rival nations, the ramifications for all of our industries will be enormous," he said, stressing the importance of diversifying supply chains to lower the cost of securing core minerals and materials used in making rechargeable batteries.

Source: Yonhap News Agency