An investigation has revealed that during the Yoon Suk Yeol administration's research and development (R&D) budget cuts last year, Choi Sang-mok, then the Presidential Senior Secretary for Economic Affairs, ordered the R&D budget to be slashed to 10 trillion won, about one-third of its previous level. Testimony also emerged that then-Senior Secretary Choi remarked, "The science community is a cartel, but the Ministry of Economy and Finance are elites, so they are not a cartel."
On the 9th, Representative Noh Jong-myeon (Democratic Party), a member of the National Assembly's Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee and the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, released the findings of the 'Investigation Report on the R&D Budget Cut Process,' which he received from the Ministry of Science and ICT. The report's main point is that the Presidential Office was deeply involved in the R&D budget cut process. Rep. Noh had previously secured a promise in August from Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon to launch a task force (TF) to investigate the truth behind the R&D budget cuts.
According to the investigation results released by Rep. Noh's office, in June 2023, the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) had prepared a major R&D budget of 25.4 trillion won, an increase of 0.6 trillion won from the previous year. This budget proposal completed a preliminary review by the steering committee of the Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology on June 26 and was scheduled to be submitted for deliberation on June 30.
On June 28, at a National Fiscal Strategy Meeting, President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered a review, stating that investments should be made in world-class research rather than 'pork-barrel R&D' and implying that the global R&D budget he emphasized was insufficient. On July 18, a presidential directive was officially distributed, instructing to 'avoid pork-barrel R&D' and 'review the R&D budget from a zero-base.'
The MSIT subsequently reallocated and adjusted the major R&D budget without reducing the overall R&D budget size and reported it to Senior Secretary Choi on July 6. According to testimony from an attendee, Choi then ordered them to "cut the R&D budget to 10 trillion won" and made the shocking remark, "The science community is a cartel, but the Ministry of Economy and Finance are elites, so they are not a cartel."
Choi reportedly then proposed a 'building-block' method, starting with a base of 10 trillion won and adding justifiable budget items one by one, suggesting that the budget could remain at 10 trillion won depending on the review's outcome.
According to the testimony of an official involved in the R&D budget process at the time, when increasing the budget from the 10 trillion won base, the MSIT's opinions were almost entirely disregarded, while the Ministry of Economy and Finance intervened by blocking or adding specific items.
On July 20, following an internal discussion chaired by the president, the Presidential Office notified the MSIT to prepare a major R&D budget of 17.4 trillion won, an increase of 7.4 trillion won from the 10 trillion won base.
The MSIT stated that after the notification from the Presidential Office, it successfully argued for the necessity of 3.1 trillion won for program-based projects and 0.9 trillion won for student labor costs, resulting in a 21.5 trillion won major R&D budget passing the Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology on August 22.
Rep. Noh argued that it is necessary to verify the increase in the bio-sector R&D budget that occurred during the budget cut process.
According to Rep. Noh's office, when the Presidential Office announced the major R&D budget on July 20, it demanded that bio R&D be reorganized to be centered around the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW), the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS), and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). In early August, it ordered the R&D budgets for the MOHW, KDCA, and MFDS to be increased to over 1 trillion won. The office added that testimony emerged during this investigation indicating that the MOEF led the increase in the MOHW's R&D budget.
As a result, while the overall R&D budget decreased, the R&D budget for the MOHW increased by 12.1%, the KDCA's by 10.2%, and the MFDS's by 3.9%.
Rep. Noh stated, "With the Presidential Office controlling the R&D budget, we need to verify who benefited and what special interests were involved." He added, "Through the parliamentary audit, I will closely examine the additional R&D budgets and projects that were 'built up like bricks' from the 10 trillion won base."
