The outflow of science and technology talent overseas and a string of data leaks are shaking trust in Korea's science and technology.
At the National Assembly's Science. ICT. Broadcasting. and Communications Committee audit on the 24th, China's aggressive attempts to recruit talent and poor management of research data simultaneously came under scrutiny. Lawmakers from both parties criticized the government's response, saying, "We proclaim ourselves a science and technology powerhouse, but the foundations are leaking."
Shin Sung-beom of the People Power Party said, "One of the Lee Jae-myung administration's state tasks is a 'powerhouse of science and technology talent,' but it seems more urgent to stop our talent from leaving than to attract talent from abroad." Shin added, "It is also a problem that the post-retirement faculty system at universities is not functioning effectively."
A survey conducted in May by The Korean Academy of Science and Technology (KAST) of 200 members revealed the same concern. A total of 123 respondents said they had received recruitment offers from overseas research institutions in the past five years, and 82% of those offers came from China.
Turnover among researchers at institutes under the National Research Council of Science & Technology (NST) is also rising. According to materials Shin received from the NST, researcher departures across all government-funded institutes totaled 143 in 2023 and 166 in 2024, and already reached 84 in the first half of this year as of June.
Park In-gyu, head of the Office of Science, Technology and Innovation at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, "There has been a failure to properly utilize faculty aged 65 or older who still have sufficient research capacity," and noted, "We will prepare measures to improve treatment for researchers nearing retirement." First Vice Minister Koo Hyuk-chae of the Ministry of Science and ICT said, "We are preparing comprehensive measures against the outflow of science and engineering talent and plan to make an official announcement next month."
Hwang Jeong-a of the Democratic Party of Korea asked, "What is the fundamental reason it is difficult to bring back science and technology talent who choose medical school or go overseas?" Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) President Lee Kwang-hyung answered, "The first reason is that treatment of scientists is poor socially, and the second is that morale boosting at the national level is insufficient."
Meanwhile, according to materials Rep. Choi Su-jin of the People Power Party received from KAIST, the Chinese government sent invitation emails early last year to 149 KAIST professors offering "an annual salary of 2 million yuan (about 400 million won) and support for housing and children's tuition." KAIST's research security team is reportedly receiving a steady two to three similar emails each month.
The audit also blasted the poor response to the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF)'s personal data leak.
In June, the foundation's Journal and Article Management System (JAMS) came under a hacking attack, leaking the personal information of 122,954 people. The leaked items were found to include bank account numbers, workplace information, email addresses, mobile phone numbers, and resident registration numbers.
Lee Sang-hwi of the People Power Party said, "The hacking technique exploited a simple flaw in the 'find password' function," and pointed out, "It is a serious problem that JAMS has been operated without basic authentication procedures for 17 years since its introduction in 2008."
Hong Won-hwa, chair of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), said, "We apologize to the public and researchers," and explained, "JAMS operation falls under the Ministry of Education, not the Ministry of Science and ICT." Hong added, "We have secured a budget of about 1.2 billion won to strengthen the system."
Kim Hyun of the Democratic Party of Korea said, "The report shows that the response was laid out in detail through July, but from August to October it was merely perfunctory." Chair Hong replied, "We are currently conducting a thorough inspection." Kim said, "It is shameful that you are still inspecting."