South Korea's growing interest in emerging technology may prompt other countries to take the Metaverse concept more seriously.

South Korea, known for its strict crypto regulatory stance, is placing a large bet on the Metaverse. The government will directly invest more than 223.7 billion won ($177.1 million) in various Metaverse projects.

South Korea is one of the first national governments to invest in nascent Metaverse technology. The investment was made through the "Digital New Deal" program. Digital New Deal program was established to invest in emerging technologies.

South Korea's Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology is in charge of the program. The Program is led by Lim Hyesook.

She described the metaverse as "an uncharted digital continent with indefinite potential," indicating the government's interest in taking the lead in Metaverse technology.

According to CNBC, the national fund would first be used to build a metropolitan level metaverse platform that would allow citizens to virtually access various government schemes and services.

The South Korean government's investment in Metaverse projects may inspire other countries to do the same.

The South Korean government's growing interest in the Metaverse was first reported in February. When two major retailers launched metaverse and artificial intelligence integration for their platforms to improve customer experience.

South Korea, a technologically advanced country, has taken proactive steps to promote the nascent technology of blockchain. It was one of the first governments to introduce blockchain use cases for government offices, setting the standard for other countries to follow.

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The Metaverse is a virtual reality environment in which a nonfungible token (NFT) serves as a commodity (a piece of land, cloth, avatar, etc.). Despite the fact that the concept is relatively new, it has generated the most excitement in the crypto world after NFTs. All of the major mainstream tech companies, including Facebook, Google, and even Apple, have expressed strong interest in the concept. Facebook even went so far as to rename itself Meta.

The Metaverse was a key topic of discussion at the recently concluded World Economic Forum (WEF) 2022, where experts predicted that it would help in a variety of fields, particularly medical and rescue operations, where it is sometimes impossible for humans to carry out tasks in person, and a virtual reality set-up can help enormously.

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