Rep. Yang Hyang-ja: "Nationally Important Science and Technology Policies Should Be Discussed in Presidential Election Debates"

Announcement of Survey Results Conducted Jointly with Economic Organizations Targeting CEOs and Executives of Science and Technology Companies

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Yang Hyang-ja, member of the National Assembly (Gwangju Seo-gu Eul), stated on the 26th that a forum for discussing nationally important science and technology policies should be held in this presidential election.

On the same day, Representative Yang announced the results of a ‘Survey of CEOs and Executives of Science and Technology-related Companies’ conducted jointly with the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (Chairman Kim Ki-moon), the Korea Federation of Mid-sized Enterprises (Chairman Kang Ho-gap), and the Korea Employers Federation (Chairman Son Kyung-sik).

This survey, conducted over the past two months, targeted about 200 corporate executives, including CEOs of domestic companies.

The survey consisted of four main categories: ▲ Awareness of the social impact of science and technology ▲ Evaluation of the Moon Jae-in administration and previous governments’ science and technology policies ▲ Evaluation of science and technology policies during the presidential election process ▲ Evaluation of various fields of South Korea’s science and technology policies, conducted via online and mobile platforms.

First, in response to the question about the impact of science and technology on national development, 95.5% answered ‘high,’ while only 4.5% responded ‘low.’

The impact of science and technology on economic growth, improvement of citizens’ lives, and job creation was also rated highly at 96.5%, 94%, and 80.5%, respectively.

However, the science and technology-related pledges and policy efforts of presidential candidates from both ruling and opposition parties were found to be very insufficient.

Regarding whether the candidate camps preparing for the presidential election have adequately prepared science and technology pledges, 79% gave a negative evaluation, and 80% of respondents answered ‘no’ to whether science and technology policies are being properly addressed during the election process.

Furthermore, 66.5% gave a negative evaluation when asked whether presidential candidates consider the science and technology sector important.

Representative Yang said, “Ahead of the presidential election in March next year, the results of reviewing the science and technology pledges of ruling and opposition candidates’ camps together with scientists and businesspeople were disheartening. While everyone strongly agrees on the importance of science and technology, nationally important issues are not being properly addressed in this election.”

On the other hand, the evaluation of the Moon Jae-in administration’s science and technology policies was not particularly negative.

54.5% evaluated the Moon administration’s science and technology policies as ‘doing well,’ while 45.5% gave a negative evaluation, showing a somewhat higher positive assessment.

Also, regarding whether the Moon administration considers the science and technology sector important, 64% responded ‘important,’ which was higher than the 36% who said ‘not important.’

This evaluation was also reflected in the question about which past government implemented science and technology policies best. The order was Park Chung-hee (25.5%) - Moon Jae-in (19.5%) - Roh Moo-hyun (17.5%) - Kim Dae-jung (16%) - Lee Myung-bak (14.5%) - Park Geun-hye (4%) - Chun Doo-hwan (2.5%) - Roh Tae-woo (0.5%).

Representative Yang explained, “As President Moon Jae-in stated in his National Assembly policy speech yesterday, the investment scale of the Korean New Deal has expanded from 160 trillion won to 220 trillion won over five years, and public interest in science and technology has never been higher since the launch of the Nuri rocket. For the Moon administration’s science and technology policies to continue and get on the right track, this presidential election is very important.”

Meanwhile, the survey also revealed the problems with South Korea’s science and technology policies as perceived by businesspeople. Specifically, negative results included: legislative efforts for deregulation are inadequate (77%), government officials are not properly implementing deregulation (78.5%), government R&D investment is not planned or strategic (68.5%), and the opinions of companies in the field are not properly reflected (74%).

Representative Yang emphasized, “The most important ‘economic discourse’ to achieve a wealthy and strong nation (Bumin Ganguk) is missing, and ‘political discourse’ should not dominate the presidential election. We will hold public inquiries on science and technology and industrial policy pledges and philosophies of each party’s candidates, along with relay candidate meetings, to create an opportunity to once again recognize the importance of science and technology.”

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