President Lee Jae-myung is the only major candidate in this presidential election who did not include a plan for the reorganization of science and technology governance (policy promotion system) in his pledges. This contrasts with People Power Party presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo, who has promised to elevate the Ministry of Science and ICT to a vice premier level, and Reform Party candidate Lee Jun-seok, who has proposed merging the Ministry of Science and ICT with the Ministry of Education and introducing a strategic vice premier system.
Instead, President Lee proposed launching the Ministry of Climate and Energy as an independent ministry, separating it from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and expanding the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family into the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. During his campaign, President Lee said, "I intend not to touch existing ministries, as much as possible, except for these changes."
President Lee's reluctance to adopt the vice minister system seems to stem from the view that it would fall behind in policy priorities. Rep. Hwang Jeong-a, who chairs the Democratic Party of Korea's science and technology innovation committee, stated at a debate held by the Science Journalists Association before the election, "It's good to introduce a vice minister system and restructure agencies, but what is more important is enabling researchers to conduct their work without worry," adding, "Governance reform is complex and involves various interests."
Considering that this presidential election begins without a transition committee, it suggests the intention to avoid unnecessary governance reform controversies and to focus on incorporating voices from the research field directly into policies. In fact, President Lee has mainly announced pledges to restructure the research field and research and development (R&D) system. He has promised to increase opportunities for field researchers to participate in establishing, planning, and evaluating R&D policies and to create an environment for research based on autonomy.
Rep. Hwang noted, "There are many critiques that evaluations and planning in the research field are done haphazardly, and there is also significant dissatisfaction with government officials pushing research projects down in a top-down manner." Rep. Hwang is a former researcher at the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, a government-funded research institute. This indicates that she judged reflecting the voices from the research field in the R&D system to be more important than elevating the Minister of Science and ICT to a vice premier level.
In reality, the Yoon Suk-yeol administration has faced criticism for failing to adequately reflect the voices from the research field in its policies. It turned researchers against the administration by suddenly cutting the R&D budget. The Yoon Suk-yeol administration cut the next year's R&D budget by 14.7% from the previous year in 2023. While the drastically reduced budget was restored within a year, there was no channel for the voices from the research field to be reflected in the policies during this process.
There are also pledges related to regional science and technology. The plan includes supporting the growth of regional hub national universities into world-class research-oriented universities and creating collaborative research hubs by linking regional science and technology institutions with regional hub national universities. Additionally, there is a proposal to allow local governments to determine regional R&D investment directions instead of the central government deciding all aspects of R&D investments. There was also mention of injecting more than 5% of government expenditure into the R&D budget and strengthening investments in basic and fundamental research fields.
Amid the presidential election, President Lee did not mention specific fields other than a massive investment plan for artificial intelligence (AI). However, there are observations that changes may occur in the space sector. The Space Launch Center, which opened last year in Sacheon, Gyeongnam, is considered a flagship project of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration. Since it's been a year since its opening, there are increasing voices pointing out inefficiencies in its location, leading experts to suggest that change is necessary.
Rep. Hwang, who led President Lee's science and technology sector pledges, has also proposed a bill to establish the Space Research and Development Headquarters in Daejeon. Though related ministries have voiced opposition to restructuring a department that has been in operation for less than a year, there are projections that circumstances could change significantly with the new administration.