Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said Friday the government's focus in the new year will be on fostering strategic industries, protecting people's lives from disasters and promoting peace on the Korean Peninsula. Kim outlined the priorities during a ceremony marking the year's first day of work at the government complex in the central city of Sejong, saying they will be pursued under the three key goals of creating an open government, a government that listens to the voices in the field and a nation confident on the international stage. "First of all, we will put our utmost efforts into fostering future strategic industries," he said, listing artificial intelligence, bio, contents and culture, defense and energy as examples abbreviated as "ABCDE." "Second of all, we will place the value of respect for life at the center of state affairs," he said, citing plans to strengthen the government's responsibility to protect lives from industrial disasters, suicides, wildfires and other preventable deaths. As the third priority, the prime minister said the government will not stop its efforts for peac