Industry Ministry R&D Budget Increased by 1 Trillion Won After Passing Through Ministry of Economy and Finance... "Advisory Meeting Useless"

Asia Economy DB=Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] It has been revealed that the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's research and development (R&D) budget for this year was suspiciously increased by over 1 trillion won after passing through the Ministry of Economy and Finance. It has been pointed out that the deliberation results of the National Science and Technology Advisory Council (Advisory Council) were hardly reflected during the increase process.

According to Lee Gyu-min, a member of the National Assembly's Industry, Trade, Small and Medium Enterprises and Startups Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, among the 196 R&D projects under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy this year, a total of 76 projects had their budgets increased beyond the Advisory Council's deliberation, amounting to an increase of 1.0123 trillion won.

On the other hand, only one project had its budget reduced compared to the Advisory Council's deliberation, with a reduction amount of 500 million won.

The national R&D budget is selected for priority investment, adjusted for similar or overlapping projects, and evaluated for investment appropriateness through the Advisory Council's deliberation in accordance with the Framework Act on Science and Technology.

At the end of May each year, each ministry sends its budget requests to the Ministry of Science and ICT, which then organizes the first budget draft through the Advisory Council's deliberation and notifies the ministries.

Subsequently, the Ministry of Economy and Finance exchanges opinions with the ministries regarding additional requests and finalizes the government budget proposal. This year, a gap of over 1 trillion won occurred between the Advisory Council's deliberation and the Ministry of Economy and Finance's government proposal solely in the R&D budget under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

For example, in the case of the "System Semiconductor Core IP Development Project," the Advisory Council provided an analysis opinion stating that "since the IP has low versatility and is specific and functionally limited, it should be avoided as a core project," and reduced the budget to 2 billion won. However, the Ministry of Economy and Finance accepted the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's additional request of 2.5 billion won as is, ultimately deciding on 4.5 billion won, more than double the amount deliberated.

Rep. Lee pointed out, "It seems that the Advisory Council's deliberation content is rendered useless." He added, "Although the Ministry of Economy and Finance has discretionary power over the budget, it is unacceptable that large-scale increases occur even when the Advisory Council's pointed issues have not been resolved," and emphasized, "A more thorough review is necessary in the R&D budget allocation process."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.