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| Lee Woo-il, vice chairman of the Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology (PACST), speaks during a press conference at PACST's office in Seoul, Monday. Korea Times photo by Baek Byung-yeul |
By Baek Byung-yeul
Korea has been using science and technology mainly as a tool to help engineer economic growth, but now it should also be used to solve the social problems the country is facing such as population decline and digital literacy, the chief of a presidential advisory for science and technology said Monday.
"So far, science and technology have been used as a means for economic development, but times have changed. Now, science and technology should be able to cover a wider range of social issues such as population decline, regional imbalances, polarization and digital illiteracy as well as geopolitical issues such as the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the U.S.-China hegemony competition," Lee Woo-il, vice chairman of the Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology (PACST), said during a press conference.
The PACST was established in 1989 in order to support the president's activities in science and technology. Since the beginning, presidents have chaired the council, while appointing a prominent figure in the science and technology sector as a vice chairperson.
Comprised of 30 council members including President Yoon Suk-yeol, the council serves to evaluate science and technology policies established by government agencies and advise on setting a forward direction.
As the first PACST vice chairman during the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, Lee said his role is to deliver the needs of advancing science and technology to the president more often, because their importance is greater than ever.
"Former Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee said this in the past. If you need technology, the first way is to buy it, and if you cannot buy it, you should recruit people who know it, and if you can't, you should try to develop it on your own. He might have said this for only the industrial field, but due to extreme social changes, his solution must be applied to our society as a whole," the vice chairman said.
Lee, who is also president of the Korea Federation of Science and Technology Societies (KOFST), said Yoon has shown great interest in upgrading the country's scientific and technological capabilities.
"So far, I met the president four times and could confirm that he has a conviction that only science and technology can advance the nation and further secure the people's liberal democracy," Lee said, adding that he and the council's members will give the president more advice on how the country should steer the development of science and technology.
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