In this blog post, I will look back at the reality of South Korea, which has no Nobel Prize in Science winners, and look at the problems and alternatives in basic science through a comparison with Japan.
On October 7-14, 2024, the Nobel Prize winners were announced in Sweden. Contrary to expectations, there were no Korean Nobel Prize winners. This reality, which repeats every year, now feels familiar like a party in someone else’s country, but it is also increasing the sense of helplessness and anxiety. In Korea, there are still calls for continued investment and support for basic science with the aim of winning a Nobel Prize in Science, but this has not yet led to any results. When will Korea win a Nobel Prize in Science? It is inevitable that Korea will be compared to its neighbor, Japan, but Japan has already produced its 31st Nobel Prize winner in science. So I would like to think about the current state of basic science in Korea, its problems, and solutions by comparing it with Japan, which is similar to Korea but different, and is also in Asia.
There are three Nobel Prizes in the field of natural sciences: the Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the Prize in Physics, and the Prize in Chemistry. However, Korea has paid more attention to applied and social sciences than natural sciences. Applied sciences refer to sciences that aim to apply to human life, such as engineering, agriculture, and medicine, while social sciences refer to empirical sciences that scientifically and systematically study various phenomena of human society, such as sociology, political science, and law. In Korea, there is still a strong perception that applied and social sciences are more advantageous for employment and success than natural sciences. This perception is a factor that makes people avoid the natural sciences, and this trend is reflected in the numbers. Of course, Japan is not much different from South Korea in that the preferred majors for students who do well in school are first and foremost medical and law schools. This atmosphere is unlikely to change easily. However, simply focusing on the preferred fields alone does not explain the difference in the number of Nobel Prize winners in the sciences between South Korea and Japan. So what other factors are creating this difference?
First, there is a difference in investment in basic science. Even if Japan has a tendency to prefer similar fields to Korea, there is a difference in the amount of R&D investment between Japan and Korea. As of 2023, Japan invested $31 billion and Korea invested $23.5 billion. Although South Korea has significantly increased its R&D investment compared to the past, there is still a difference in investment amount due to the difference in the country’s economic power. The bigger problem is how these investments are allocated. In Japan, 50% of the budget used by all universities in the country is taken by the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University, the two top universities in Japan. Next, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Osaka University, and Nagoya University share the remaining investment, and 90% of the national budget is concentrated on the top 10 universities. Thanks to this concentrated support, Japan’s top universities continue to produce world-class research results. In contrast, in South Korea, the budget is distributed to most universities, including several national universities, making it difficult to provide full support to a specific university.
Another difference can be found in the laboratory system. In Japan, science and engineering students earn their graduation credits by the third year and are then assigned to a laboratory for a year of intensive research when they enter the fourth year. Through this process, students choose their own research topics and gain in-depth academic experience while conducting actual research. The research data accumulated in this way greatly contributes to improving the efficiency of research in master’s and doctoral programs. In contrast, in Korea, students choose a laboratory after entering graduate school, and if the research topic does not match, it can be a huge waste of time. In addition, Korean university students often struggle between finding a job and choosing a laboratory in their senior year, and often fail to find a clear direction for their research.
The military issue is also one of the major obstacles to the development of basic science in Korea. All Korean men must fulfill their national defense obligations, which sometimes results in their studies being interrupted due to military service while they are in university. Opportunities to continue their research are provided through the research scholarship system for master’s and doctoral programs, but these opportunities are limited. Even in cases where research can be conducted in parallel with military service, research time is often not guaranteed.
To solve these problems, the social atmosphere that downplays basic science must be improved. Investment must be increased to ensure that research can be carried out stably, and long-term support must be guaranteed. In particular, the government’s administrative system must be reorganized to separate the science department from the rest of the government and intensively manage and support the science sector. When it comes to budget allocation, full support must be given to core areas such as basic science, which will be responsible for the future of the country. The university laboratory system must also be improved to allow students to be more immersed in research. If these changes are made, the day will come when Koreans will be able to take pride in the fact that they have won the Nobel Prize in science, rather than looking at it with envy and pity.
