Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Bae Kyung-hoon, who also heads the Ministry of Science and ICT, said on the 13th that the government will expand investment in basic science so that a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate can emerge from Korea.
Bae responded during a National Assembly audit by the Science. ICT. Broadcasting. and Communications Committee held at the Government Complex Sejong that day to a remark by Choi Hyeong-du of the People Power Party, who said, "The fact that Korea again failed to produce a Nobel laureate in the sciences this year is largely the responsibility of the Ministry of Science and ICT."
Bae said, "We should not simply envy Japan's awards," adding, "We must reflect on whether Korea has properly and consistently invested in basic science." He went on, "We also need to examine whether we have invested with the right scale and duration, commensurate with our interest in the Nobel Prize."
Bae said, "Even starting now, we must invest properly in basic science," adding, "Through new approaches such as AI innovation, we need to establish a framework that can take on the challenge of the Nobel Prize." He said, "The Ministry of Science and ICT will focus intensively on this."
According to Choi, Korea ranks second in the world in research and development (R&D) investment as a share of gross domestic product (GDP). As of 2021, R&D spending totaled about $121.0 billion, the fifth-largest in the world. However, in the sciences—physics, chemistry, and physiology or medicine—Korea has not produced a single Nobel laureate.
By contrast, in Japan this year, Sakaguchi Shimon, a professor at Osaka University, and Kitagawa Susumu, a professor at Kyoto University, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, respectively. With this, Japan has produced a cumulative 27 Nobel laureates in the sciences.