[Reporter’s Notebook] "I Only Trusted Ahn Cheol-soo"... Science and Technology Community Boiling with Frustration

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] "I only trusted Ahn Cheol-soo, how could this happen?" The science and technology and ICT sectors are boiling with frustration. It has been reported that the transition committee of Yoon Suk-yeol, the president-elect of the 20th Republic of Korea, has tentatively decided not to appoint a senior secretary in charge of science and ICT within the presidential office organization. The proposed establishment of a senior secretary for education and science has also been effectively scrapped. However, the transition committee is said to have tentatively decided to create a new position of science and ICT secretary by combining the science and technology and ICT fields. Instead, an unofficial position of science and technology special advisor will be newly created. This organizational structure is practically similar to that of the Blue House during the Lee Myung-bak administration, which was criticized for neglecting the science and technology sector.

Upon learning of this, voices of dissatisfaction have emerged from the science and technology community, saying, "The words change after being elected." President-elect Yoon had promised during his candidacy to build a ‘science and technology-centered nation.’ In February, he attended policy forums hosted by the Federation of Korean Scientific and Technological Societies and expressed the principle of ‘appointing science and technology personnel.’ At that time, Yoon pledged to "strengthen the government's science and technology leadership" by appointing science and technology experts to senior government positions as much as possible so that science would be at the center of major national decision-making. Furthermore, Ahn Cheol-soo, the chairman of the transition committee and a former doctor and IT company founder, raised expectations in the science and technology community. During his presidential campaign, Ahn declared his intention to become a ‘science and technology president’ and pledged to actively appoint science and technology talents by establishing a senior secretary for science and technology and introducing a vice prime minister for science and technology.

Major science and technology organizations, including the Federation of Korean Scientific and Technological Societies, issued an ‘Appeal from the Science and Technology Community’ on the 23rd, stating, "Everyone has high expectations for the transition from a follower nation in science and technology to a leading nation in core technologies, as emphasized by President-elect Yoon," and urged, "The establishment of a senior secretary for science and technology education is absolutely necessary as a control tower for the science and technology sector." Although Ahn later revealed on the 24th that he had proposed this to President-elect Yoon and received a response of "We will consider it," dissatisfaction in the science community remains.

There have already been evaluations that President-elect Yoon’s cabinet appointments, national governance plans, and major policies resemble those of the Lee Myung-bak administration. The problem is that the Lee Myung-bak government was criticized for neglecting science and technology and diminishing the comprehensive coordination capacity of national research and development projects by abolishing the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Information and Communication and reorganizing into the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. At that time, the government abolished the vice prime minister-level Ministry of Science and Technology and the Blue House’s information and science technology advisor, and limited the role of the National Science and Technology Council to private advisory functions, which caused significant dissatisfaction. The era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is called a time of great transformation. This underscores the need to make science and technology a major pillar of national governance. Even now, a reconsideration of the transition committee’s presidential office organizational reform plan is necessary.

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