MOST Elevated to Leading Role in Overseeing State R&D Outlays
- Aimed at focusing on science & technology during a $ 20,000 national income era'

The government has elevated the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) to a deputy prime minister position as part of its efforts to reform the science and technology sector. The establishment of the Office of Science and Technology Innovation within the revamped MOST is aimed at overseeing and coordinating R&D outlays under the wider national strategic perspective and improve efficiency in government-funneled R&D investments.
The following are excerpts of a recent interview Deputy Prime Minister-Minister of Science and Technology Oh Myung had with NewsWorld.

Question: First of all, congratulations on raising the minister of science and technology to a position of deputy prime minister. What would you like to say about the significance of the elevation?
Answer: I have a burdensome sense of responsibility in consideration of a mandate of the times: my spearheading in a bid to reform the science and technology sector as the first deputy-premier-minister of science and technology. Eight years have passed after overcoming the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, but the per-capita national income still hovers around the range of $10,000. The day in which quantitative growth is pursued based on the input of labor and capital has reached a limit, but science and technology of 21st century needs to shift into a technology renovation-oriented one that can drive the national economy. In this respect, I understand that the elevation of the Ministry of Science and Technology to a deputy-prime minister level government agency and the inauguration of the Science and Technology Innovation Headquarters indicate the participatory government's strong determination to achieve innovation in the science and technology sector and advance the construction of a science and technology-oriented society with the aim of raising the per-capita national income to $20,000.

Q: What future science and technology policies do you contemplate?
A: The revamped Ministry of Science and Technology will not only direct policies the ministry has so far handled, but also oversee and coordinate overall micro-economic fields such as industry, manpower and regional innovation policies related to science and technology. First of all, it will focus on redesigning R&D projects of 19 ministries, agencies and offices in accordance with national strategies and raise efficiency in R&D investments by establishing a performance-based management system.
The ministry will make efforts to upgrade Korea's basic science research level to the global top 10 ranks through diverse support, including raising the percentage of R&D outlays in the basic science research field by 25 percent by 2007, while actively providing support in fostering such state-of-the-art industries as space, bio-engineering and nano-technology.
It will put more energy in making a research environment for government-affiliated research institutions stable and autonomous, improving the welfare of scientists and engineers and the morale of the engineering sector as well as assimilating science and a technology culture.

Q: You have mentioned in your speech during the inaugural as deputy prime minister a task of raising the per-capita national income to $20,000. Could you elaborate on what's required to achieve this goal?
A: If national R&D projects are managed under a cyclical viewpoint ranging from technology development to exports, it would be possible to produce breadwinners that could advance the national economy in five years or ten years.
Currently, the government is examining scores of projects with a potential for exporting, selected our nation's research works. For instance, take a look into such examples as locally made magnetic levitation trains and desalination reactors. Ten years have passed after the ministry invested in the development of the magnetic levitation train, but its commercialization has not yet been available. If the Ministry of Construction and Transportation, the involved government agency, takes pains to standardize the magnetic levitation train, and local autonomous bodies come to take it, it would be possible to utilize the train. Several local autonomous governments, including Daejeon City, are considering introducing the magnetic levitation train. If the magnetic levitation train is utilized in this fashion, and high-ranking government officials, including the President, are proactively engaged in sales diplomacy, it would be possible for the locally made magnetic levitation train to make a foray into foreign markets.
A visiting prince of the United Arab Emirates recently met the Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ban Ki-moon and discussed the UAE's plan to solve the pending desalination issue with gas to MOFAT Minister Ban, who in return introduced the desalination reactor, dubbed "SMART," which was developed by Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). The meeting has led to our technology team being dispatched to the Middle Eastern country to explain the technology and resulted in South Korea's inking an MOU with the UAE on the feasibility study on the construction of desalination plants using the desalination system coupled with SMART. I think that the case may be one of good examples for realizing the goal of raising the per-capita national income to $20,000.

Q: How do you manage the integration and budgeting of state-financed research projects?
A: The budget for the science and technology sector should be allocated and utilized strategically according to the target of state development and technologies required to be developed now that it is an investment designed to ensure national competitiveness. So far each government ministry has allocated its own budget according to its strategies and targets, causing such problems as overlapping R&D investments.
From now on, the deputy prime minister of science and technology will strive to link national development strategies and budgeting and prevent overlapping of R&D investments among ministries by allocating and coordinating the budget on the science and technology sector through the National Science Board. The Ministry of Planning and Budget shall determine the volume of government R&D outlays, and the National Science Board shall initially coordinate allocation of each ministry's budget taking into account state strategies and targets. Each ministry shall draw up its own budget plan specifying projects, which is submitted to the National Science Board to undergo comprehensive review, secondary and final coordination.
The proposed act on assessing the results of R&D projects will be enacted to build up a framework in which the budget for the science and technology sector is adjusted in consideration of the assessment of performances in a bid to ensure efficiency in R&D investments.

Q: We have heard that civilians and government officials from ministries other than MOST will man the Office of Science and Technology Innovation , to be newly established within the MOST. Would you provide specifics on this plan?
A: The personnel composition of the Science and Technology Innovation Headquarters is unique. In an effort to dispel some people's negative views and misunderstanding that the headquarters is designed to ensure the interests of the MOST and secure specialization, fairness and objectivity of duties, the office will be composed of experts from the private sector and government officials from more than 10 government agencies, including the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Information and Communication.
Speaking specifically, 40 percent of a staff of 106 personnel will be filled each by officials from the MOST; 40 percent, by those from other ministries; and the remaining 20 percent will be formed with experts from the private sector.
Experts from the private sector will be recruited in diverse forms like special recruiting methods or a contract system. Manpower recruited in a public contest will man important positions, and they will be given enough rights and responsibility to perform their tasks.

Q: Do you think there will be problems with the personnel composition of the Office of Science and Technology Innovation in which officials from the MOST and other government agencies could represent the interests of their own agencies.
A: Now that the office takes charge of comprehensively coordinating and assessing policies of 19 government agencies and their R&D projects, it is more important to ensure fairness and neutrality. The office has adopted a system in which its staff members' affiliation is changed, not in the form of dispatching, so as to fulfill their duties rather than pursuing the interests of their originating government agency.
I will make my utmost effort to minimize the conflicts that could be incurred at the inaugural stage of building an organization where all the staffers from several different government agencies work together and expedite mutual harmony.

Q: What's the government position concerning the study of cloning human embryos and extracting stem cells?
A: The United Nations held government-to-government meetings and unofficial consultations on the ban on cloning human embryos starting October 21. Our government is supporting Belgium's proposal that would ban cloning human embryos, but allow selective cloning aimed at curing diseases.
The international community's support for a limited stem cell study for curing incurable diseases is gaining ground. Despite opposition from the religious community in Spain with Catholic believers accounting for more than 90 percent of its population, the Socialist government enacted a law allowing cloning human embryos and extracting stem cells last October 30. California became the first among the 50 U.S. states to pass a bill on supporting the research on stem cells and financing $3 billion won into the study in the next 10 years with a vote of 69 percent for to 31 percent against last Nov. 3.
The MOST, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Ministry of Health & Welfare and other relevant government agencies will make joint efforts to reflect our government position in the UN ethical discussion on human life. The government will continue to support the research on cloning embryos and extracting stem cells for curing incurable diseases without contravening international ethical standards and domestic laws while trying to muster public support by publicizing the necessity of the study and ethic aspects and disclosing the scene of the study.

Q: What steps are in place to foster talented manpower in the science and technology sector?
A: In a knowledge-based society, scientists and engineers serve as a driving force behind creating national wealth, but these days' talented youngsters are reluctant to enter engineering colleges. Only 19.5 percent of the college entrants in the first-grade category entered engineering colleges in 2001, while the ratio of science high school students entering engineering colleges dropped from 82.6 percent in 2001 to 72.8 percent in 2003.
Education in engineering colleges fail to meet demands of industries, causing a imbalance in the supply and demand of manpower and a corporate burden for reeducating new recruits - woes coupled with inferiority in the educational quality of engineering college graduates. Korea' shortage of high-quality manpower is projected to widen from a deficiency of 7,000 doctorate-level researchers for 10 next-generation growth engine projects in 2007 to 10,000 in 2010. Corporate newcomers' knowledge levels stood at 26 percent of corporate demands, according to a report, released by the Federation of Korean Industries in February 2002.
The government will endeavor to encourage more gifted manpower to enter engineering colleges by spreading an awareness that scientists and engineers are held in high esteem socially and are considered as a stabilized career. An incentive system will be strengthened so that prominent researchers can be given more rewards, while a pension for retired researchers and a lifetime pension for supporting excellent researchers will be pushed. The government will plan to introduce diverse preferential treatment systems such as provision of enough research fees to prominent scientists and presentation of Korea's top science and technology awards and an expansion of engineering college graduates' opportunities for holding public positions.
The government puts more energy into fostering talented students and women scientists as part of efforts to build up an infrastructure for cultivating outstanding scientists and engineers. A Science Gifted School has been operated and the number of science elite educational institutions will increase from 19 in 2004 to 23. Primary and secondary school science education will be reformed on top of the publication of easy and exciting science textbooks, while the recipients of the presidential science scholarship program for prominent engineering college entrants in Korean and abroad will increase from 250 in 2004. The government has established a master plan for fostering women scientists and engineers, calling for, among others, implementing a quota system for women scientists and engineers at 99 government-affiliated and the government-invested institutions.
Engineering colleges will be encouraged to change quotas, majors and education curriculums according to corporate and industry demands. For instance, a course for cultivating manpower with technology management capabilities and international qualifications will be opened at the technology management department of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). National Core Research Centers (NCRC) of major universities plan to open courses for cultivating experts in disciple convergence arenas.

Q: The government has decided to enact a proposed law on managing and controlling nuclear power to ensure nuclear transparency and reliability. Would you give the specifics on the content of the proposed act?
A: Korea's controversial extraction of small amounts of plutonium and enriched uranium that has recently emerged as an issue was conduced under the scientific research standpoint, so it is making headway in persuading the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that the case was not a serious one.
With regard to the latest issue, the government is working out diverse steps designed to ensure reliability and transparency in the peaceful use of nuclear power from the international community. The National Nuclear Control Agency (NNCA) was established last Oct. 25 within the Korea Nuclear Safety Technology Institute to take over the responsibility of nuclear control from KAERI. The NNCA will be developed into a separate entity to guarantee independence as soon as possible.
The government is seeking to enact the proposed act on managing and control nuclear power in a bid to institutionalize and strengthen control and management over nuclear power. All matters related to control of nuclear power, including safety measures and control of imports and exports, would be stipulated in the projected bill.
The proposed measure would stipulate the establishment of a nuclear power control committee responsible for delivering and deciding important issues related to the control of nuclear power. nw