R&D Support Budget Controversy: Increased by 621.7 Billion KRW

The research and development (R&D) support budget, which had sparked controversy over cuts, has increased by 621.7 billion won. The government explained that the focus was on resolving employment instability in the R&D sector and supporting next-generation and foundational technology research.

On the 21st, the Ministry of Economy and Finance announced that the 2024 budget bill with these details was approved at the National Assembly plenary session. The R&D budget, which had been cut by 5.1626 trillion won (16.6%) in the original government proposal and faced criticism from the scientific community, was increased by 600 billion won. The Ministry of Economy and Finance explained that the related budget was reinforced focusing on alleviating employment instability of researchers following R&D structural reforms. An additional 152.8 billion won was allocated to support basic research project expenses, and 45 billion won was added to establish a budget for postdoctoral researcher projects.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Investment to support the operation of high-performance large-scale equipment will also be strengthened. To expand support for operating costs of the latest high-performance large-scale equipment such as supercomputers, heavy ion accelerators, and proton accelerators, 43.4 billion won was added. Investment for next-generation technologies such as lunar exploration, communications (6G), and mobility (K-UAM) was increased by 188.8 billion won. In particular, the budget for nuclear power plants, which had been controversial, was also increased. For foundational technology investments such as nuclear power plant safety and component competitiveness enhancement, 14.8 billion won was added.

A new budget was also secured to alleviate childcare burdens nationwide. Especially, the budget for meal hygiene management support funds to reduce the burden of meals at private daycare centers was newly established during the National Assembly discussions. A new budget of 10.8 billion won was allocated to provide management support funds of 300,000 won per month to 6,000 meal sites with 50 or more children. The Ministry of Economy and Finance explained that this was intended to minimize potential damage to meals and other services amid the situation where many daycare centers are struggling to operate due to low birth rates and other factors. The budget to expand support for staggered working hours incentives for childcare workers from companies with 30 or fewer employees to all medium-sized and small enterprises was also increased by 1.4 billion won.