"Express buses run just once an hour, so commuting has become a serious problem. I have a feeling more researchers may leave starting in the second half of the year."
An official at a government-funded research institute recently voiced such concerns over the news of the "abolition of metropolitan commuter buses." After President Lee Jae-myung noted at his New Year press conference in January that "improving the local residency rate of public institution employees is necessary," public agencies and government-funded research institutes under the Ministry of Science and ICT began sequentially suspending bus operations. The full shutdown is scheduled for this June.
The rationale of balanced regional development is reasonable. But there is frustration that the process has been a "bolt from the blue." With commuting options disappearing without alternatives, voices within these institutes are now considering moving elsewhere. Of the 25 government-funded research institutes under the National Research Council of Science & Technology (NST) and the Korea AeroSpace Administration, only five provide housing for general researchers. Another official at a public agency under the science ministry said, "Researchers with school-age children are especially troubled," adding, "In areas without even a nearby obstetrics clinic or elementary school, moves to other jobs are already being detected."
The overhaul of the performance-pay structure starting this year, prompted by the abolition of the Project-Based System (PBS), could also drive young researchers away. Unless issues such as allowance distribution gaps between senior and junior researchers and salary inversions are properly resolved during the compensation restructuring, departures to private companies or academia will be inevitable.
The exodus of young talent from government-funded research institutes is already severe. According to data compiled by the NST and the Korea AeroSpace Administration, those in their 30s or younger accounted for 63% of the 1,253 people who left these institutes between 2020 and June 2024.
Against this backdrop, the ambition to "innovate the R&D ecosystem by fostering young science and technology talent" rings somewhat hollow. Last November, the science ministry announced it would expand the hiring of early-career researchers at government-funded institutes to around 600 per year. But the key lies beyond recruitment — in creating realistic residency conditions that enable these researchers to conduct "full-cycle research."
We must not forget that the primary mission of government-funded research institutes is to serve as core hubs leading national R&D, ahead of functioning as anchors for balanced regional development. Administrative measures that upend researchers' daily lives ultimately erode research competitiveness.
