Requirements for an advanced country

Oh Se-jung
The author, a former president of Seoul National University, is an emeritus professor of physics.

Many people say that Korea has joined the ranks of advanced countries. Data such as the per capita GDP and economic scale back the claim, not to mention Korea’s elevated status on international stages like the Group of 20 summit. Thanks to the wider spread of the Korean wave, Korea has become a country people around the world wish to visit and see. It is no longer a small peripheral nation in the Far East.

The rediscovery has also brought about changes in the Korean collective mindset, making the country seek solutions on its own instead of turning to advanced countries for help in the face of challenges. We seek to become a leader instead of a fast chaser of global trends. That is a desirable development.

But we often demonstrate maladroitness like someone who has suddenly become rich. Much like a person, a country has its traits and a level of dignity. If personality is shaped through experiences and self-training throughout a lifetime, national dignity is mirrored through the accumulation of experiences and collective intelligence.

But Korea is immature in many ways. The latest embarrassment was the problem-ridden World Scout Jamboree staged in Saemangeum. Korea was internationally disgraced because of the serious lack of preparation for the event after inviting 43,000 scouts and other participants from 158 countries.

Korea has wonderfully pulled off big international events like the Olympics Games, World Cup competitions, and the Expo before. There had been doubts in the early stage, but the country defied skeptics every time. But the success owed much to efforts on the individual level instead of strong command and managerial system on the national level. The Saemangeum Jamboree ended in disaster because it did not have any individual support, let alone a systematic backup plan. Korea should have learned from the fallout by studying the causes of failure to redress the system. Yet politicians are entirely immersed in the wrangling and blame game.

Politicians are often the biggest culprits eating up national dignity. The partisan brawl over the wastewater discharge from Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is an ongoing example. Polls show many Koreans remain uneasy about sea contamination despite assurance from many experts that the released water is safe and in line with international standards. The opposition party has the right to criticize the government for lacking or problematic actions. But the criticism should be reasonable and in line with international standards. Lambasting accredited experts as “scam scientists” or branding an international report from multinational experts as an offshoot of lobbying and false information cannot get international sympathy. The principle of the world science community is to debate scientific facts despite different views. But such a bias found in Korea reflects the embarrassing side of politics and negatively impacts the country’s global reputation.

Another qualification for being an advanced country is to act as responsible members of international society by contributing to the advancement of peace and humanity. Korea must continue to increase aid for poor and developing countries through the Official Development Assistance and other means. Along with economic aid, it is important to contribute to intellectual assets of humanity. Assistance to basic research is one. Basic science — like the study on the origin of the universe and the evolution of life — helps satisfy human curiosity regardless of the purpose of application. The outcomes of basic research by Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein built the concept of our world and nature.

Sadly, Korea has contributed little in this aspect. Although the country is one of the biggest spenders on science and technology research and development, most of the funds went to applications for industrial purposes. Investment in basic research was paltry. According to the statistics from 2021, Korea ranked No. 5 in the world in R&D spending. But spending in basic research fell sharply below those of advanced countries. Yet the government has slashed its subsidies for basic research by 6.2 percent in next year’s budget outline. We are not living up to the role of an advanced country with such an underdeveloped mindset.

Korea should be proud of having leapfrogged near the advanced-group rank after achieving industrialization and democratization in the wake the 1950-53 Korean War. But we don’t become an advanced country just because we are near the top-tier group in data. We can always slip back into the underdeveloped group like Argentina did. To stay in the leading group, we must persistently upgrade our system, act according to international standards, and contribute to the wellbeing of humanity as a responsible member of the global community. Can Korea do the homework?

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.