Science in Newly Industrialized Countries - Science in Korea

Science in Korea

Development of Science and technology in Korea has closely paralleled that of overall economy, which has been almost completely dominated by chaebols and export-oriented industries. It started with hurriedly assembled hodgepodge of institutes and organizations focusing on reverse engineering, licensing and copying, imitations, and at times right-out pirating.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the words and concepts of science and technology were virtually non-existent in Korean society. Some science courses were taught in a couple of universities but only as purely academic subjects. It can be safely said, however, up until the early 1960s Korea was a nation with neither modern technologies nor scientific research and development infrastructure.

Korea's science and technology did not exist, in any meaningful form, prior to the 1960s, it is said to be only four decades old, the time period that marks the beginning of Modern South Korea under the strongman rule of Park Chung Hee. As Korea embarked on its first major push for industrialization at that time, development of accompanying technologies became critical and the need for scientific infrastructure to support such efforts became imperative.