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Kwon Oh-nam, president of the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies (KOFST). Courtesy of KOFST<\/p>\n
As the National Assembly has recently begun discussing a constitutional amendment, the science and technology community is also moving quickly. Kwon Oh-nam, president of the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies (KOFST), submitted a formal recommendation to the National Assembly on April 3, about a month after he took office in March. His proposal is to revise Article 127 of the current Constitution, which for more than 54 years has confined science and technology to a mere \u201cmeans of national economic development,\u201d and instead anchor it in \u201cquality of life for the people.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Speaking at the KOFST office in the Seoul Science and Technology Center, Kwon said, \u201cIf science and technology are clearly stated in the Constitution as values in their own right, it becomes a national declaration that researchers will no longer be treated solely as tools for economic growth.\u201d He added, \u201cIt also means creating a constitutional basis to curb the current system in which R&D investment swings with one-year budget cycles and changes in the administration, and to secure continuous and predictable public investment in science and technology.\u201d<\/p>\n
The word \u201cscience\u201d first appeared in the Constitution in the Fifth Amendment in 1962. Since the Seventh Amendment in 1972, science and technology has consistently been defined as a \u201cmeans of national economic development.\u201d Article 127, Paragraph 1 of the current Constitution states, \u201cThe State shall endeavor to develop the national economy by promoting the development of science and technology and the innovation of information and manpower.\u201d<\/p>\n
Based on expert discussions within its Science and Technology Policy Committee and input from its leadership, KOFST proposed adding a new clause to Article 9, Paragraph 2 of the Constitution: \u201cThe State shall endeavor to innovate science and technology in order to prepare for future society.\u201d It also proposed revising the current Article 127, Paragraph 1 to read, \u201cThe State shall endeavor to promote science and technology innovation and the cultivation of human resources and to improve the quality of life of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kwon stressed, \u201cIn an era of technological hegemony where artificial intelligence, semiconductors, biotechnology, and quantum technology determine national security and people\u2019s lives, science and technology can no longer remain a secondary tool for economic growth. It must now be re-established as an independent core value that safeguards public safety and the lives of future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n
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While acknowledging that it is difficult to say with certainty that the views of the science and technology community will be fully reflected in the constitutional revision process, he said, \u201cWe will do our utmost to faithfully gather the voices from the field and ensure they are reflected in policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kwon redefined KOFST\u2019s raison d\u2019\u00eatre as \u201ca public platform that transforms the collective intelligence of scientists and engineers into national strategies and policies.\u201d He said, \u201cWe should not remain just an organization that executes government projects, but become a resonant focal point that explains the concerns of the science and technology community and its responses to future challenges to society, and presents viable options.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Immediately after taking office, he collected opinions from 604 member societies through a survey conducted by the Academic Promotion Committee\u2019s steering committee, and on that basis submitted five key agenda items to the Ministry of Science and ICT. One of them is a program to attract young science and technology talent. He proposed ways to connect graduate students to the broader science and technology community from an early stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They also established a feedback mechanism to report back to the societies on how their proposals were reviewed. Communication roundtables with academic societies in five fields\u2014natural sciences, engineering, agriculture and fisheries, health, and general (convergence)\u2014are being held in sequence. In the past, KOFST mainly held forums and issued reports; now, each academic society is encouraged to draft its own policy proposal documents.<\/p>\n
From June through next April, KOFST will host a monthly policy forum. Marking the 60th anniversary next year of the establishment of the dedicated ministry for science and technology, these forums will review six decades of achievements and discuss future policy directions.<\/p>\n
Asked whether KOFST can still speak hard truths when government subsidies account for half of its revenue, Kwon responded firmly, \u201cCooperation is not the same as silence.\u201d He said, \u201cKOFST\u2019s role is not to be an adversary, but to serve as a policy partner that offers the government better scenarios to choose from.\u201d He also stated that, to strengthen financial independence, KOFST will gradually reduce its reliance on the government by expanding revenue from rentals, venue operations, and more advanced in-house projects.\u00a0
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Last year, allegations of misconduct, including the misuse of business expenses, led the previous president to resign mid-term, serving as a serious warning to the entire science and technology community. Kwon sees this not as an individual\u2019s lapse, but as a structural problem. KOFST is now strengthening the role of its board of directors, introducing work audits, and building an internal control framework. \u201cIn mathematics, if the solution process is wrong, the answer is meaningless even if it happens to be correct,\u201d he said. \u201cFor KOFST as well, not only the outcomes but the processes must be transparent and reproducible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The leadership team has also been overhauled. Women now account for 25%, those in their 40s and 50s for 40%, and regional leaders for 52% of executives. Citing the McKinsey report \u201cDiversity Matters Even More (2023),\u201d which analyzed 1,265 companies in 23 countries, Kwon explained, \u201cCompanies in the top 25% for executive-team diversity are 39% more likely to outperform financially than those with lower diversity.\u201d In other words, diversity improves the quality of organizational decision-making.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Kwon said, \u201cRenewing the people is not about simply swapping personnel; it is about changing the standards and culture of decision-making. We have created a system that allows us to track how the field experience and sense of issues brought in by newly participating executives are actually reflected in formal meetings and in setting key agendas, and what kind of discussions each suggestion leads to.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The following is a Q&A with President Kwon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Q. You have long emphasized the need for \u2018patient capital\u2019\u2014investment in basic science that does not demand short-term results but waits for long-term growth. What must change so that researchers on the ground feel real change rather than empty promises?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAbove all, to prevent patient capital from becoming a form of false hope for researchers, we must guarantee predictability in research. Challenging and basic research should run on long-term tracks of five, seven years or more, and interim evaluations must move beyond metrics focused on the number of papers and patents to incorporate qualitative indicators such as progress in problem definition and learning through failure. Only when researchers can truly believe, \u2018I will be able to continue this research next year as well,\u2019 can they dare to take real risks.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Q. What role should KOFST play in addressing the rush into medical school and the outflow of talent overseas?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rush into medical schools and the brain drain overseas ultimately share the same root cause: a lack of predictability about the future of scientists and engineers and insufficient social trust in science and technology careers. Through our 604 member organizations, we will identify, with data, the reasons why talent is leaving the field, and we will connect Korea with 20 overseas Korean scientists and engineers associations around the world to expand a borderless research environment. By making our systems more flexible, there are ways to utilize talent abroad even without requiring them to physically return to Korea.\u201c<\/p>\n
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Q. As the government pushes \u2018AI for Science\u2019 to the forefront, many researchers worry that \u201cit is hard to get projects funded without an AI keyword.\u201d How do you view this situation?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe policy direction itself is necessary and important. However, if anxiety grows in the field that \u2018without an AI keyword, it is hard to get a project approved,\u2019 that is something we must clearly guard against. While technology rapidly answers the question of \u2018how,\u2019 basic science is the discipline that asks \u2018why.\u2019 Deep learning, the core of AI, only became possible thanks to the long accumulation of basic disciplines such as linear algebra, calculus, probability and statistics, and optimization theory. The speed of technology can never substitute for the depth of science.\u00a0<\/p>\n
AI is a tool, not an end in itself. Even if research is not directly linked to AI, we must steadfastly protect basic research that builds the foundations of disciplines. What science must safeguard is not the ability to rapidly replicate correct answers, but the ability to pose better questions on paths where no one has gone before. When that essence is preserved, Korean science and technology can move beyond merely chasing existing technologies and become a country that leads with questions so fundamental that the rest of the world follows.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Q. In an era overflowing with fake news, how does KOFST, as a representative body of the science and technology community, plan to communicate with the public?<\/p>\n
\u201cAccording to the \u20182026 Edelman Trust Barometer,\u2019 the proportion of people who believe fake news shows almost no difference by level of education. This is the most striking finding. It shows that fake news is not simply a problem of lacking knowledge, but a problem of having lost the criteria for what to trust in an age of information overload.<\/p>\n
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KOFST will strengthen its role as a mediator of trust by leveraging the expert networks of its 604 member organizations to provide rapid and reliable explanations on science issues that become matters of public controversy. To this end, in cooperation with the Science & Technology Media Center Korea (SMCK), we plan to build a roster of experts who can respond immediately when issues arise. We aim to create a system in which experts can promptly step forward on socially contentious topics such as vaccines, the environment, and AI.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Q. When your three-year term ends, by what standards will you judge your presidency a success?<\/p>\n
\u201cI will use three criteria to evaluate myself: whether policy participation by our 604 member organizations has become meaningfully more active than before; whether opinions from the field have in fact been connected to policy discussions in the government and National Assembly; and whether opportunities for participation by young scientists and regional communities have visibly expanded. Above all, if small and mid-sized societies, regional researchers, and young scientists and engineers can genuinely feel that \u2018my voice is reaching the policy conversation through KOFST,\u2019 I would regard that as the clearest sign of success.\u201d<\/p>\n
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