[Reporter’s Notebook] Researcher Rights Protection Committee Makes Young Researchers Suffer Twice

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] "It is a clear case of embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds, yet you say you are going to 'overlook' it? Who exactly are these researchers claiming to protect researchers' rights?"

This is the reaction of a graduate student from a metropolitan area university upon reading Asia Economy's report (June 4th, pages 1 and 5) that the Ministry of Science and ICT reduced the disciplinary actions against university professors involved in research misconduct. University laboratories, while researching cutting-edge 21st-century science, still operate under a 19th-century apprenticeship-style research culture, causing severe suffering for young researchers. Professors hold all kinds of authority over grades, papers, and job recommendations, reigning as monarchs in their labs. They openly receive kickbacks from student researchers' salaries, which are the compensation for research activities, managing them jointly and using them as lab operating funds or their personal petty cash.

It is rare to find student researchers who have worked in university labs and have not experienced research misconduct such as handling professors' personal errands, collecting receipts for 'card kkang' (cash advances on credit cards), or ghostwriting papers. Although these are clearly criminal acts, they show no sense of guilt, saying "What's the problem?" Despite being young people who prioritize 'fairness' as a major issue, the rarity of whistleblowing is evidence of the overwhelming power professors hold within the labs.

The Researcher Rights Protection Committee, newly established under the National Research and Development Innovation Act enforced in February, was expected to support young researchers. However, upon opening it, it turned out to be an organization for 'entrenched researchers.' It was a body to review and reduce disciplinary penalties for researchers who had been sanctioned for various misconducts. While the founding purpose?improving fairness and eliminating administrative waste?is commendable, criticism arises that it is a 'desk administration' ignoring reality.

The urgent task in the current research field is to alleviate the pain of young researchers suffering from the outdated behaviors of 'kkondae' (authoritarian senior) established researchers and to protect their rights. Issues of fairness or easing excessive sanctions must go hand in hand with rooting out and reforming research misconduct; they cannot advance alone. It is time to reassess what the urgent tasks are. Even now, measures such as including young researchers in the committee and reviewing a change in its direction should be considered.