Bae Kyunghoon, Science Minister Nominee: "R&D Budget Expansion Needed... Science and AI Are Inseparable"

"Research Environments for AI Talent Must Be Provided"

Bae Kyunghoon, the nominee for Minister of Science and ICT, stated on June 27 that in order for the research and development (R&D) ecosystem to develop properly, "the R&D investment budget must be continuously expanded."

On his way to the personnel hearing preparation office at Gwanghwamun Post Office in Seoul, Bae told reporters, "I believe science and technology and AI are now inseparable," adding, "AI utilization is essential for the advancement of science and technology, and solid research in fundamental fields is necessary for AI to develop and for the overall R&D ecosystem to thrive." He stressed the need to expand the budget.

Regarding some calls to increase the R&D budget to 5% of the national budget, he said, "I have not reviewed that specific proposal, but a gradual expansion of the R&D budget is necessary." He continued, "Just as AI boosts corporate productivity, we can achieve significant research results in fundamental science and technology fields by utilizing AI, and I believe connecting these efforts is the most important task," adding, "I plan to focus on that area."

On the issue of AI talent outflow, he said, "We need to examine whether there are adequate environments in Korea for AI talent to conduct long-term research, and from that perspective, providing such research environments should be a priority."

Regarding recent issues and policy directions in cybersecurity, he said, "The most important thing in security is prevention," and added, "We need to review whether the overall national system for cybersecurity is well established to prevent such incidents from occurring frequently."

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