Printed: 10 Nov. 2025, 00:00
Audio report: written by reporters, learn by AI
President Lee Jae Myung speaks throughout a nationwide discussion board on science and expertise, held on the Nationwide Science Museum in Yuseong District, Daejeon, on the afternoon of Nov. 7. [NEWS1]
At a nationwide discussion board on science and expertise hosted by President Lee Jae Myung on Nov. 7, the federal government unveiled plans to domesticate and appeal to scientific expertise. A brand new “Nationwide Scientist Program” will choose 20 researchers subsequent yr and 100 inside 5 years, every receiving an annual analysis grant of 100 million received ($68,682). The federal government additionally goals to draw 2,000 excellent or early-career researchers from abroad by 2030.
The initiative is welcome in precept. Korea’s future development is inconceivable with out superior science and expertise. However the query stays whether or not this plan addresses the structural flaws of the analysis surroundings. The scarcity of scientific expertise and stagnation in innovation stem not merely from an absence of individuals however from institutional and systemic constraints that forestall researchers from specializing in analysis.
Korea’s analysis ecosystem prioritizes equal distribution over excellence and regulation over autonomy. Salaries are managed by the Ministry of Economic system and Finance, staffing by the Ministry of the Inside and Security. Researchers are burdened with efficiency evaluations and administrative paperwork. Presidents of government-funded analysis institutes serve solely three-year phrases, and fewer than 10 p.c of their budgets can be utilized at their discretion. The retirement age for researchers at such institutes is 62, decrease than the 65 for college professors. The once-prestigious salaries at establishments just like the Korea Institute of Science and Know-how at the moment are a factor of the previous.
Universities face related circumstances. Chinese language universities just lately despatched recruitment emails to 149 KAIST professors, providing as much as 400 million received in annual wage and beneficiant analysis autonomy. If home circumstances stay unchanged, designated “nationwide scientists” or recruited overseas researchers can have little cause to remain.
In the course of the industrialization period of the Nineteen Sixties and Nineteen Seventies, Korea handled science and expertise as a nationwide survival technique. Leaders set a imaginative and prescient, and researchers got belief and autonomy. That spirit is what is required right this moment. A method for nurturing scientific expertise should start with reforming the broader analysis ecosystem. Patchwork options is not going to safe the way forward for Korean science and expertise.
