“Choi Sang-mok, Senior Secretary for Economic Affairs, ordered a cut to 10 trillion won.” Deputy Prime Minister Baek Kyung-hoon acknowledged, “I apologize to the damaged science and technology community.”
![Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyounghun answers questions from ruling and opposition party members at the National Assembly's Science, ICT and Broadcasting Committee's parliamentary audit of the Ministry of Science and ICT held at the Sejong Government Complex on the 13th. [Photo = Yonhap News]](https://wimg.mk.co.kr/news/cms/202510/13/rcv.YNA.20251013.PYH2025101307290001300_P1.jpg)
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyounghun admitted that it was the order of Choi Sang-mok, former senior presidential secretary for financial affairs, about the collective cuts in the nationwide R&D funds in 2024 throughout the Yoon Suk Yeol administration.
Asked at the parliamentary audit of the National Assembly’s Science, Technology, Broadcasting, Information and Communication Committee on the thirteenth who led the R&D funds reduce course of at the time, Deputy Prime Minister Bae stated, “Former Senior Secretary for Economic Affairs Choi Sang-mok ordered 10 trillion won.”
Since the starting of final month, the Ministry of Science and ICT has operated a job pressure to research the R&D funds discount course of and is investigating the discount course of at that time. At that time, the Yoon administration slashed the 2024 R&D funds by 15%.
According to an interim report on the R&D funds reduce course of obtained by Roh Jong-myeon of the Democratic Party from the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Science and ICT ready a significant R&D funds price about 25.4 trillion gained, a rise of about 600 billion gained from the earlier yr.
However, on June 28, 2023, former President Yoon Suk Yeol identified “sharing R&D” at the National Finance Strategy Meeting and ordered a evaluation of the origin, and on July 6 of the similar yr, Choi ordered the principal R&D to be set at 10 trillion gained after the president’s report.
Chief Choi reportedly expressed his intention to proceed with a “brick stacking” methodology that provides a sound funds one after the other based mostly on 10 trillion gained.
Then, at an inner debate in Yongsan presided over by the president on July 20 of the similar yr, the president’s workplace notified that it would create a significant R&D funds with 17.4 trillion gained, and since then, a significant R&D funds price 21.5 trillion gained has been created by persuading the Ministry of Science and ICT on the want.
Deputy Prime Minister Bae stated, “I apologize to all those affected by the R&D cuts,” including, “The Ministry of Science and ICT will do its best to prevent such a situation from happening again.”
In addition, it stated in a enterprise report on the similar day, “We have set up the largest government R&D budget ever of 35.3 trillion won in 2026.”