Choi Sang-mok, senior presidential secretary for financial affairs at the time of the “R&D Budget Reduction Process Investigation Report,” minimize 60% from the authentic budget plan
![Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Strategy and Finance Choi Sang-mok appears at a plenary session of the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts held at the National Assembly in April. When the R&D budget was cut, he was the senior presidential secretary for economic affairs. [Picture = Reporter Han Joo-hyung]](https://wimg.mk.co.kr/news/cms/202510/09/news-p.v1.20250429.4219a69e65424a728965bd7d2808db52_P1.jpg)
In the process of cutting the R&D budget in 2024, it was revealed that Choi Sang-mok, the senior presidential secretary for financial system at the time, ordered the R&D budget to be minimize to 10 trillion received. In session with the Ministry of Science and ICT on the budget plan, Choi reportedly stated, “The science community is a cartel, but the Ministry of Economy and Finance is elite.”
According to the “R&D Budget Reduction Process Investigation Report” obtained by Roh Jong-myeon of the Democratic Party of Korea from the Ministry of Science and ICT, the presidential workplace at the time was discovered to have strongly intervened in R&D budget cuts centered on Choi.
The report was ready by the Ministry of Science and ICT’s ‘R&D Budget Reduction Process Investigation TF’. Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyounghun stated at the affirmation listening to that a fact-finding investigation was wanted, and in September, the TF was launched, led by Park In-kyu, head of the Science and Technology Innovation Division.
The minimize in the R&D budget in 2024 started with a phrase from Yoon Suk Yeol President Yoon Seok-yeol. At the National Finance Strategy Meeting in June 2023, President Yoon stated, “Sharing and split R&D needs to be reviewed from zero base.” The budget invoice, which was elevated by 600 billion received from the earlier yr, had already been reviewed in advance by the National Science and Technology Advisory Council.
Since then, Chief Choi has taken the lead in cutting the R&D budget. According to the report, the Ministry of Science and ICT reported a budget plan that maintained the whole measurement of the main R&D budget however modified just some gadgets. However, Choi gave an in depth order to chop the R&D budget to 10 trillion received. The order is to chop about 60% from the initially scheduled whole of 25.5 trillion received.
A participant at the scene testified to TF at the time, saying, “Chief Choi said, ‘The scientific community is a cartel, but the Ministry of Economy and Finance is elite, so it’s not a cartel.” This means that the R&D budget needs to be organized in response to the will of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, not the science group. Choi is a former bureaucrat who served in key positions at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.
Since then, the presidential workplace has taken a method of step by step rising the mission by weighing every mission in the 10 trillion received R&D budget. After reviewing the presidential workplace, a serious R&D budget of 17.4 trillion received got here out, and the remaining main R&D budget was 21.5 trillion received as the Ministry of Science and ICT persuaded the want.
As a consequence, some say that the final budget minimize was the consequence of the president’s workplace fully breaking the stability between the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Science and ICT. A science and expertise coverage skilled stated, “The battle between the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Science and ICT over the R&D budget has been repeated,” including, “If the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which has a large authority, decides, the role of the Ministry of Science and ICT is actually limited.”
Now, the Ministry of Economy and Finance determines the whole quantity of R&D budget, and the Ministry of Science and ICT distributes it to every ministry and establishment. Although the Ministry of Science and ICT makes suggestions by means of preliminary overview, there isn’t any obligation for the Ministry of Economy and Finance to comply with. Whenever the regime modifications, the powers and roles of the two ministries proceed to vary.
A science and expertise official recognized, “As long as the Ministry of Strategy and Finance continues to have the same authority now, it will be difficult for the R&D budget to increase significantly.” This is why the science and expertise group has expectations for the not too long ago established science and expertise deputy prime minister system.
“Former President Yoon Suk Yeol and former Senior Secretary for Economic Affairs Choi Sang-mok tried to adjust the scale to around 10 trillion won due to lack of R&D budget cuts,” Roh Jong-myeon stated. “We need to verify who benefited and which interests were involved in the process.”