NST Confirms Successor Candidates One Month After Current Chairman's Term Ends
Contrasted with Long-Term Vacancy of Research Institute Directors
Possible Impact from Yusangim's Appointment as Minister of Science and ICT
The threefold list of candidates for the appointment of the Chairperson of the National Science and Technology Council (NST) has been finalized. Attention is focused on whether the vacancy crisis of key heads in the science and technology sector, including the nearly seven-month vacancy of the Chairperson of the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), will be resolved soon. There are also calls that this issue must be addressed once Yoo Sang-im, the nominee for Minister of Science and ICT, is appointed.
According to NST on the 14th, three candidates have been nominated for the new Chairperson: former People Power Party lawmaker Kim Young-sik, Park Young-il, Chairperson of the Korea Nano Technology Institute, and Lim Hye-won, Principal Researcher at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). NST oversees 23 government-funded research institutes under the Ministry of Science and ICT. The NST Chairperson is recommended by the Minister of Science and ICT and appointed by the President. Thus, the final decision authority lies with the Minister of Science and ICT. If Yoo Sang-im is appointed as Minister, it is expected that the NST Chairperson candidates will be shortlisted and reported to the President.
The three candidates are expected to compete by leveraging their strengths as a former politician from academia, a traditional science and technology bureaucrat, and a female researcher. Former lawmaker Kim was the 6th president of Kumoh National Institute of Technology and served as the People Power Party’s whip on the Science, Technology, Broadcasting and Communications Committee in the 21st National Assembly. At one point, there were rumors within the scientific community that Kim was preselected as Chairperson. Chairperson Park is a former Vice Minister of Science and Technology. Principal Researcher Lim was also mentioned as a candidate for the Presidential Office’s Science and Technology Chief.
The current NST Chairperson Kim Bok-cheol’s term ended in July. Kim, who was the first Chairperson from within the research council and a former head of the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, will be succeeded by an external appointee as the new Chairperson.
The appointment of the NST Chairperson is being processed swiftly despite significant delays in appointing heads of the research institutes under NST. The appointment of the NST Chairperson is necessary to proceed with the ongoing appointments of research institute heads as scheduled. Some research institutes have experienced nearly a year-long vacancy in leadership because they could not find suitable candidates even among those approved by the board.
Currently, NST has held a candidate screening committee for the Korea Railroad Research Institute and the Korea Food Research Institute, selecting three candidates for each institute’s head.
Meanwhile, the National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences is expected to hold a board meeting next week to decide on the head of STEPI. Although three candidates for STEPI’s head were selected on June 25, the board has not convened for nearly two months, leaving the new head still pending. STEPI, under the National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences, has been operating under an acting head since former Chairperson Moon Mi-ok completed her term and voluntarily stepped down in January.
Attention is also focused on whether heads of other affiliated organizations under the Ministry of Science and ICT will be replaced. Organizations such as the Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Creativity and the University of Science and Technology have leaders from the Ministry of Science and ICT, but no appointment procedures have been conducted even after their terms expired earlier this year.
A source in the scientific community expressed hope, saying, "Once the new Minister of Science and ICT takes office and the heads of research institutes and scientific organizations whose terms have ended are replaced, the scientific community will likely regain vitality."
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