SEOUL: The South Korean National Assembly concluded a contentious decision to reduce the national research and development (R&D) budget to 26.5 trillion won (US$20.4bil), a 15% reduction from this year and marking the first R&D budget cut in 33 years.
The reduction of 4.6 trillion won is a slight adjustment from the government’s initial proposal of a 5.2 trillion won cut, a concession in response to significant backlash and criticism from both the scientific and political communities.
