Around mid-February, Kim Yeong-il is giving up his temporary research position, which pays him W1.5 million a month, at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). He has decided to go do the same research at Japan's Tokyo University, taking his wife and four-year old daughter with him. Kim Yeong-il specializes in fiber optic elements, having received his Ph.D at Busan University in August of 2003, making him the man to go to if you want to, say, make an Internet connection 100 times faster.
"Staying in Korea wouldn't be any use because there aren't long term prospects," Kim said. "Domestic companies are only interested in investing in wireless communications, because it makes money right now. They don't even look at the Internet fiber optic technology that will be needed in ten to fifteen years from now. Japanese companies, on the other hand, are actively investing in the field, so I leave, taking hope with me."
Kim Seong-cheol, an alias, is a 73 year-old master's degree holder from the Seoul National University College of Engineering. Until a few years ago, he was a highly performing engineer at Hyundai Electronics. In 10 years, he won an award for being a "superior employee" no less than five times. During the 1997 economic crisis, he was a rare survivor when companies were cutting employees, which usually started with their research staff. Three years ago, however, he went to work for Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, Singapore's largest company in the business.
The company had overcome the economic crisis, but the inhospitable atmosphere at Hyundai towards people in technological development showed no signs of improving, and in the end he decided he would pack up and leave his homeland.
The men are just two examples of how Korea's "techno-warriors," once at the very front lines of the war of technology, are packing their bags.
Korean companies are crying out for new technologies, but yet the long line is getting longer of people with technological know-how who are on their way out of the country.
Around 150 Koreans with careers similar to Seong-cheol have settled in Singapore. This year alone, close to 60 researchers at Korean semiconductor manufacturers have made the move. Most have advanced degrees and have worked in the field for five years or more. Korean engineers will tell you that including the number of Koreans who have gone to Malaysia, the number approaches 300.
Korea's techno-warriors are on their way out, but competing and more advanced nations are welcoming the foreign brainpower as they each create a wider pool of science and technology talent.
In a 2002 study of the "brain drain" phenomenon in 50 countries, the Swiss international management school IMD found that Korea ranked 40th in its ability to retain its "brains." On IMD's "brain retention indicator" Korea registered 4.5 on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being the strongest tendency for highly-trained people to leave a country. Ten years ago, Korea scored 7.3 on the same scale, ranking 6th out of 37 countries.
During the same time, policies placing higher importance on technological development in Ireland and Finland have helped those countries rise on the same scale, from 2.5 to 7.6 and 5.1 to 8.1, respectively. Ten years ago, Hong Kong was 3.4, but it rose to 6.6 by 2002, while India rose from 2.6 to 6.0. China has a special term for those who return from study in the areas of science and technology, and those individuals are given special treatment. China rose from 2.7 to 3.5 during the same period.
The situation is already serious, with virtually all students avoiding science and technology, and now even highly-skilled people in technical fields are bailing out. Bets are on as to how long this situation can continue.
Peter Schroepfer,internetnews@chosun.com
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