Presidential Office Leads 'Brick-by-Brick' Budget Adjustment
It has been found that during the process of allocating research and development (R&D) budgets under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, the Ministry of Science and ICT was effectively excluded and instead was led by the Presidential Office.
Paik Kyung-hoon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT, is responding to questions from ruling and opposition committee members at the National Assembly Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee’s audit held at the Government Complex Sejong on the 13th. Photo by Yonhap News
Paek Kyunghoon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT, acknowledged on October 13 during the National Assembly Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee’s audit at the Government Complex Sejong that Choi Sangmok, who was then Senior Presidential Secretary for Economic Affairs, had ordered a cut to the main R&D budget down to 10 trillion won.
The Ministry of Science and ICT has been operating a task force (TF) since early last month to investigate the circumstances of the R&D budget cuts.
Assemblyman Noh Jongmyeon of the Democratic Party of Korea, citing an interim report from the task force received from the Ministry of Science and ICT, pointed out, "At that time, Senior Secretary Choi instructed that the R&D budget be set at 10 trillion won. This is the same level as in 2008." The Ministry of Science and ICT had originally prepared a main R&D budget of 25.4 trillion won, an increase of 600 billion won compared to the previous year, but former President Yoon ordered a complete review at the National Fiscal Strategy Meeting in June 2023, resulting in this outcome.
The Ministry of Science and ICT had planned to report to the President on the 'Plan to Break Up the R&D Cartel and Transform R&D for the Future,' which included reinvesting funds saved by restructuring more than 10% of the main R&D budget. However, it is reported that this plan was scrapped.
According to the report, Senior Secretary Choi subsequently led an incremental "brick-by-brick" approach to the budget, starting from 10 trillion won and adding feasible amounts one by one. At an internal discussion chaired by the President at Yongsan on July 20 of the same year, the Presidential Office notified that the main R&D budget would be set at 17.4 trillion won. After further persuasion from the Ministry of Science and ICT regarding the necessity, the main R&D budget was eventually set at 21.5 trillion won.
Regarding this, Deputy Prime Minister Paek stated, "I understand that the brick-by-brick approach was led by the Senior Secretary for Economic Affairs," and added, "I apologize to everyone who was affected by the R&D cuts. The Ministry of Science and ICT will do its utmost to ensure that such a situation never occurs again."
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