part of report by Kahaner on InfoSci 1993, Seoul Korea, 21-22 Oct 1993

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

From:
 Dr. David K. Kahaner
 US Office of Naval Research Asia
 (From outside US):  23-17, 7-chome, Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106 Japan
 (From within  US):  Unit 45002, APO AP 96337-0007
  Tel: +81 3 3401-8924, Fax: +81 3 3403-9670
  Email: kahaner () cs titech ac jp
Re: InfoSci 1993, Seoul Korea, 21-22 Oct 1993


ABSTRACT. InfoScience '93, the International Conference in Commemoration
of the 20th Anniversary of the Korea Information Science Society
(KISS), held 21-22 Oct 1993 in Seoul is reviewed. We also make some
overview comments about Korean science activities.


OVERVIEW REMARKS ABOUT KOREAN SCIENCE ACTIVITIES


Based on my observations of Korean science and technology, I have been
saying for the past year or so that, while things are still moving
forward, the rapid developments of a few years ago seem to have slowed.
The Korean Government appears to agree.  Recently the Government passed a
Commercial Technology Development Base Subsidies Law, which establishes
national technology policies. This will attempt to "integrate" policies
of strategic technology development, funding, and other aspects of the
country's "commercial technology drive." The Government will also
sponsor "commercial technology promotion meetings" for different
sectors. These meetings are to be chaired by the Minister of Trade and
Industry and attended by representatives of industry, research
institutes, government and universities.


Much of this is the result of a study that was performed by the Ministry
comparing the overall technology level of Korea relative to other
countries. Their conclusion was that Korea's technology deficit relative
to its economic competitors is large. Rating the technology level of
advanced industrialized countries at 100, Korea earned a composite score
of 42.6.  By sectors the scores are listed below. However, these numbers
probably reflect the state of mind of researchers involved in the study
as much as any quantitative measures and thus should not be taken too
seriously.


Medical instruments                          56.7
Spinning & Weaving                           55.0
Industrial Design & Packing                  53.0
Precision Chemistry                          49.6
Optical instruments                          48.8
Textiles & Dyeing                            48.4
Instrument Controls                          46.7
Computers (HW & SW)                          46.4
Industrial Machinery                         46.0
Electronic Parts & Materials                 45.6
Machine Tools & Robots                       44.9
Heavy Electrical Equipment                   44.5
Semiconductors & Equipment                   42.6
Communications Equipment                     42.3
Articles of Daily Living                     41.7
Perto & Hi-polymer Chemistry                 41.6
Automobiles                                  40.5
Non-ferrous Metals                           40.4
Textile Raw Materials                        40.0
Household Appliances                         39.5
Environmental Technology                     39.0
Shipbuilding                                 38.9
Cryogenics & high pressure instruments       38.8
Ceramics                                     37.6
Chemical Products                            37.3
Basic Production Technology                  35.9
Automation                                   35.8
Iron & Steel Materials                       21.6


Other Ministry figures show that Korea invested US$5.5B in R&D in 1991,
compared with US$83.5B for Japan and US$145.7B for the US. Korea
registered 7800 patents in 1991, compared with 59000 for Japan and 90000
for the US. In 1992 Japan obtained 23481 US patents, compared with 1195
for Taiwan and 543 for Korea. The degree of economic growth attributable
to scientific and technological progress (however that is measured) is
41.9% in the US, 74.9% in Japan, 32.4% in Taiwan, but only 19.4% in
Korea. According to the Ministry, these figures show that Korea not only
has lost its competitive advantage in labor costs, but also lacks the
technological edge needed to maintain its exports. (Korea is no longer
considered a "low wage" country, and some industries that were booming
in years past, such as athletic show manufacture, are now in very
serious decline. For economic development it is important for Korea to
replace these industries with those producing more high-tech products.)
But, as a result of neglecting R&D Korea has almost no "wellspring
technology" of its own, the Ministry maintains.


I cannot verify general statements about Korean technology, but there is
ample anecdotal evidence of Korean efforts to import technology as well
as develop it internally. In the former case I note the long and
protracted discussions leading to the selection of French train
technology to be used to help build Korea's new high speed rail line
between Seoul and Pusan. The choice of France over Japan was primarily
based on the willingness of the French organizations to transfer
technology to Korea. (The Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy
is hoping that this will allow Korea to become a major exporter of
railway cars to China and Southeast Asia. Some Korean scientists,
however, felt that it would have been better for Korea to develop this
technology internally as one of the HAN projects, see below.) At a more
modest level, I note the agreement recently between the Korea Institute
of Machinery and Metals (KIMM) and the Canadian firm Servo Robot Inc
(SRI) to allow KIMM access to SRI's laser vision system technology for
use in welding, with the hope of developing welding robots. In the other
direction, Korea Heavy Industries & Construction (KHIC) is said to have
recently developed a hydrocracking reactor used for dissolving heavy oil
and removing sulphur, a key facility in oil refining. The world market
for such reactors is about US$750M of which 80% is dominated by two
Japanese makers and the remaining 20% by three European manufacturers.
KHIC hopes to have a chance to get a significant share of this market.


Taedok Science Town, adjacent to the city of Taejon, about 90 minutes
train ride from Seoul is modelled after Tsukuba in Japan. Since 1973 the
Korean government has spent over US$3B to build R&D facilities there.
These include the Electronics & Telecommunications Research Inst, Korea
Inst of S&T, Genetic Engineering Center, Korea Ginseng & Tobacco Res
Inst, Korea Res Inst of Chemicals Technology, Korea Inst of Energy &
Resources, Korea Atomic Energy Research Inst, Korea Advanced Inst of S&T
(KAIST), and others. Current plans are to set up a technology innovation
center at KAIST to bridge industry and academia.


The Taejeon International Exposition (EXPO'93), an exhibition of state-
of-the-art Korean and International industrial technologies, featured
participants from 112 countries and 28 international organizations in a
"Technology Olympics". The real goal of EXPO'93 was, however, was to show
the nation and world that Korea is ready to join the ranks of the
advanced industrialized countries (i.e. G-7 nations) by 2001. Highlights
of the exhibition were the science and technology pavilions of Korea's
giant industry groups, such as Hyundai, Daewoo and Samsung which
exhibited their own prize R&D products, including Hyundai's magnetic
levitated train.  EXPO also featured a few products of joint R&D efforts
among the big companies. One example is the high definition TV system,
an area in which Korea has been working hard to compete against Japan
and US. The EXPO formally closed on 7 Nov 93 but the popular science
and technology pavilions will remain open and be incorporated into the
Taeduck Science Town next spring.


The Taejeon EXPO'93 presented a good forum for witnessing and assessing
status of the Korean industrial technology development to see if Korea
is really ready to attain their national goal by 2001. Of course it is
not that simple to make this kind of judgement by simply seeing the
industry exhibits, impressive as they were. EXPO'93 seemed to be a
huge success on the basis of massive attendance, especially by the school
children who marvel at impressive shows, but more significantly, who get
a valuable lesson on benefits and importance of technology as the main
vehicle that will carry Korea into the ranks of the advanced nations,
perhaps during their lifetime.