Yoon’s 2024 R&D cut halted 338 research projects, survey finds
A government survey found the 2024 funding cuts disrupted climate, basic science and other research while thousands of researchers left affected projects.
Then-President Yoon Suk Yeol looks at quantum computing technology at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology in Seongbuk District, central Seoul, on Jan. 5, 2024, after a New Year’s gathering of the science and ICT community. The 2024 budget, which cut national R&D spending by 4.6 trillion won, had taken effect at the start of the year.PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE
The Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s abrupt 2024 cut to research funding halted 338 government projects and shrank budgets for nearly 70 percent of those meant to continue, a Ministry of Science and ICT survey found.
Many of the government’s carbon neutrality studies, aimed at a worsening climate crisis, were halted by the cut. Hydrogen research and carbon capture, utilization and storage research were the clearest examples. Even work the Yoon administration itself had presented as an answer to the climate crisis, such as technology to produce environmentally friendly plastic, ran aground as its funding shrank.
The Yoon administration, which claimed that cartels existed in the science and technology community, slashed research spending. The national research and development (R&D) budget for 2024 came to 26.5 trillion won ($19.7 billion), 4.6 trillion won, or 14.8 percent, less than the year before.
The Science Ministry’s report on the cut’s impact, submitted to Democratic Party Rep. Lee Ju-hee on Thursday, is the first survey to cover every affected project. It follows up on a task force the government ran last year to investigate how the 2024 budget was cut.
Of the 33,156 projects that began in 2023 or earlier and were set to continue into 2024 or later, 23,155, or 69.8 percent, received less money than planned. Cuts hit 93.7 percent of the Science Ministry’s projects and 93 percent of the Ministry of Education’s.
Then-President Yoon Suk Yeol listens to an explanation of how the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science keeps Korea’s standard time at the institute in Yuseong District, Daejeon, on Nov. 2, 2023, during a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of Daedeok Innopolis. Yoon told researchers at the event that the state would back them “no matter how much it costs,” weeks before the National Assembly passed the reduced 2024 R&D budget.JOINT PRESS CORPS
As of August, 78 percent of the projects whose funding was cut or that were halted had ended. Under the National Research and Development Innovation Act, a government research project must end once its agreed period expires.
The number of researchers working on the projects fell by 8,631 in 2024. Each researcher is counted only once, even if they worked on several projects.
A survey of damage cases by Engineers & Scientists for Change, a group of scientists and engineers, found many researchers leaving academia. In one case, a contract researcher lost his job when 80 percent of his project’s funding was cut at once. His wife, a doctoral student, put her studies on hold to take a part-time job and support the family.
Basic research, the foundation of the sciences, was hit broadly. Two-thirds of basic research projects, or 14,259, had their funding cut.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups had the most halted projects, at 152. It was followed by the Science Ministry with 73; the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources with 55; the Education Ministry with 33; and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration with 15.
Park In-kyu, vice minister for science, technology and innovation, gives a briefing on the government’s R&D budget proposal for next year at the Government Complex Seoul in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Aug. 31. The proposal raises the national R&D budget to 39.5 trillion won, up 11.2 percent from this year.NEWS1
The government plans to keep raising investment to help the research community recover from the damage done two years ago. It has submitted a 39.5 trillion won national R&D budget for next year to the National Assembly, up 4 trillion won, or 11.2 percent, from this year.
Starting with next year’s budget, funding for projects that carry over from the previous year will not be cut. The government will also introduce “investment-type R&D,” in which it recovers the money it puts into a project and reinvests it in others. The number of basic research projects will rise from about 21,500 in 2024 to 26,000 next year.
“Researchers were deeply hurt by the Yoon Suk Yeol government’s R&D budget cuts,” Lee said. “Despite the current government’s efforts to repair the damage, it will take more time for the wounds to heal.”
“As basic research grows in importance, we must restore trust in the research community and work to prevent a recurrence so that the gap with advanced research does not widen,” Lee added.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
