Impact of Pohang Accelerator on Large-scale Science Programs in Korea

Emerging countries pursue their industrialization based mainly on technology. However, governments of these countries often encounter difficulties pursuing a fast-track approach to advanced R{\&}D programs due to a lack of resources, especially in trained man-power. There are a few successful countries, for example, in Korea. The government R{\&}D budget has been increased by more than five-fold in the last decade in Korea, which has stimulated a large number of trained scientists and engineers to return home to Korea. Satisfied with positive results for industrialization based on technology, the government has now begun to promote the basic science required for improving applied science and industries. At the same time, since the successful construction and operations of Pohang Light Source (PLS) initiated by POSTECH, the Korean government, and the steel company, POSCO, the Korean government has been promoting new large-scale scientific facilities for multi-disciplinary science, for example by joining the ITER tokamak project. This paper presents recent progress in and prospects for science and technology programs in Korea as an emerging country.