According to Yonhap News,
(SEOUL=Yonhap News) South Korea invested more than 19 trillion won (US$16.7 billion) in research and development (R&D) last year, with the majority of its budget earmarked for the development of basic science and technology, the science ministry said Monday.
The government allocated slightly over 19 trillion won in 2016 on a total of 54,827 tasks in 562 projects nationwide, up 0.7 percent from 2015, according to the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning.
Of the total, 5.3 trillion won, or 40.1 percent, was spent on research development of indigenous technologies and another 5.1 trillion won, or 38.9 percent, for the development of basic science.
By technology, 3.4 trillion won, or 19 percent of the total R&D budget, was used for the machinery sector, 3.3 trillion won, or 18.3 percent, for biotechnology; 2.3 trillion won, or 12.8 percent, for energy environment technology; and 1.3 trillion won for space technology.
The number of participating scientists came to 35,249, with 85.4 percent of them being male and 14.6 percent female, the ministry said.
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Source: Yonhap News (Jun. 26, 2017)