Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon speaks in the course of the science ministry’s 2026 kickoff ceremony on the Authorities Advanced Sejong, Jan. 2. Courtesy of Ministry of Science and ICT
The science ministry plans to launch a joint committee with the funds ministry to coordinate planning for the nation’s analysis and improvement (R&D) funds, based on officers Monday.
The transfer is aimed toward enhancing effectivity and consistency in drawing up R&D funds plans, based on the Ministry of Science and ICT, following issues up to now over sweeping funding cuts below the earlier Yoon Suk Yeol administration.
The committee will start its actions with the planning of the 2027 funds. It’ll maintain common conferences to debate a variety of points, together with setting funding instructions and discovering new tasks.
“Beforehand, consultations between the 2 ministries relied on working-level discussions, making it troublesome to hunt systematic coordination on main agendas,” the science ministry stated in a launch.
Korea’s R&D funds for 2026 was set at 35.5 trillion received ($24.3 billion), with the science ministry answerable for allocating 30.5 trillion received, or 85.3 p.c.
In 2024, the previous administration slashed the nation’s R&D funds by 8 p.c to 9 trillion received to reallocate funds to different areas, prompting sturdy protests from the science neighborhood.
