350 Cases of Fraud Detected in National R&D Projects Over 5 Years

Democratic Party Lawmaker Cho Seung-rae Announces 'Status of Sanctions in National R&D Projects'

▲Daedeok Innopolis, where many government-funded research institutes are located. [Photo by Asia Economy DB]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] In the past five years, 350 cases of misconduct have been detected and sanctioned in government-funded national research and development (R&D) projects.

According to the "Status of Sanctions in National R&D Projects" submitted by the Ministry of Science and ICT to Assemblyman Cho Seung-rae (Democratic Party, Daejeon Yuseong-gu Gap) of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee, the government discovered 350 cases of misconduct in national R&D projects over the past five years and took measures including restricting participation in 334 cases, recovering 11.8 billion KRW in project funds, and imposing 2.1 billion KRW in penalty surcharges.

Among these, 2.4 billion KRW in project funds have not yet been recovered due to the closure of the institutions subject to recovery or failure to comply with payment procedures, resulting in legal actions, and 700 million KRW in unpaid penalty surcharges remain outstanding. The reasons for sanctions included 141 cases of misuse of research funds for purposes other than intended, 55 cases of embezzlement of labor costs, and 24 cases of research misconduct.

Assemblyman Cho Seung-rae emphasized, "As the importance of science and technology increases and the national R&D budget grows, effective institutional measures to ensure research ethics are necessary," adding, "Information on researchers and institutions restricted from participation should be shared in real-time across all ministries, and efforts must be made to recover unrecovered project funds and penalty surcharges to the fullest extent possible."