South Korea will step up investment in the next key technology trends to create quality jobs and improve an industrial structure heavily reliant on large conglomerates and the manufacturing sector, the commerce ministry said Monday.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy submitted the industry development plan to parliament, which aims to create over 300,000 jobs with increased investment in innovative industries by 2022.

"The industrial structure's heavy dependence on certain industries, companies and regions could create the illusion of growth, which poses limitations in fostering new growth drivers," the ministry said in the report. "We will overhaul industry policy to create quality jobs and boost income."

In the era of the fourth industrial revolution, the ministry put a priority on raising mobility and networks and improving energy efficiency in Asia's fourth-largest economy.

The government said it plans to put self-driving cars on the highway by 2020 and increase the number of electric vehicles to 350,000 by 2022.

To help reach the goal, the government and the private sector will create a fund worth 300 billion won ($275 million) to develop technologies for autonomous cars and the Internet of Things.

It will also expand investment in establishing decentralized energy infrastructure to raise the ratio of renewable energy resources, such as solar, wind and steam power plants.

  "The government plans to create half of the new jobs in the renewable energy sector, including solar panels as well as nuclear reactor decommissioning, while the rest will be created in other emerging industries and modernization of existing business areas," Jung Dae-jin, an industry policy official at the ministry, said in a briefing.

The goal is line with a new energy roadmap, which aims to raise the ratio of renewable energy to 20 percent by 2030 by reducing reliance on nuclear and coal power plants.

Under the nuclear phase-out plan, the nation's 10 oldest reactors will be retired by 2030 as their operational life cycles expire one by one, which would have to take steps for the decommissioning process.

In the face of rising global protectionism, the ministry said it will expand the global network to create a united front on major issues and actively file complaints against unfair practices at the World Trade Organization.

The government said it will come up with detailed implementation plans for each sector by the first quarter of 2018. (Yonhap)