KAIST

Good afternoon, everyone!
It is indeed my great pleasure to meet you this afternoon.

As the president of KAIST, I would like to welcome all of you participating in the 2018 NEREC Summer Fellows Program.

Also, let me express my deep gratitude to Prof. Yim, Man-Sung who has been organizing this program since 2014. Without his dedication and unwavering efforts, this program would not be possible.

I think this nuclear nonproliferation program is becoming even more important considering the recent international unease mainly caused by the nuclear weapons of North Korea. I sincerely hope this program will educate you on the peaceful and useful management of nuclear power.

Since there are many foreign students sitting here, let say me a few words about Korea and KAIST.

Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world just half a century ago. Our per capita GDP at that time was around 200 USD. Now, Korea ranks 13th in the world in terms of GDP and ranks eighth in the world for trade volume. Korea has also emerged as one of the seven most innovative countries, according to the IMD report.

Not only our economic growth, but also our scientific growth has led to its astonishing progress. For instance, about 40 years ago, not a single SCI paper was published by Korean scientists. Now, more than 50,000 articles have been published, placing Korea 12th in the world in terms of publications. For patent registrations, Korea ranks fourth in the world.

In such a short period, less than half a century, Korea has achieved industrialization, informatization, democratization, and globalization and this is frequently referred to as the miracle on the Han River.

Now, the question is what brought about such phenomenal change. My answer is that there are three driving factors. Those are Visionary leaders, Innovative plans, and Passionate people, which I call ‘VIP’ driving forces. The success of KAIST is one of the best examples achieved by the ‘VIP’ driving forces.

Through the vision of the Late President Chung-Hee Park, KAIST was established in 1971 under a special law. It was time for Korea to try to transform from an agricultural country to an industrialized country. KAIST was tasked with a mission to foster highly talented manpower in science and technology and conduct basic and applied research, both of which were desperately needed for the nation’s economic development.

Then, to achieve this mission, an innovative plan for the first research-oriented university in Korea was prepared, mainly under the leadership of Dr. Kun-Mo Chung. He is the man who made KAIST happen. He proposed an idea to establish an innovative university in Korea to Dr. John Hannah, the director of US AID. The proposal was accepted and the Korean government received funding in the form of a six million dollar loan from US AID. The six million dollar loan became the seed money for the KAIST of today.

KAIST recruited passionate faculty and students. In those days, elite students went abroad for advanced studies and didn’t come back to Korea. Brain drain was a serious problem, so an innovative plan was made to retain elite students in Korea.

KAIST provided a special benefit package for its students including a full scholarship, free room and board, an allowance, and waiving their military obligation. KAIST also recruited the best faculty from home and abroad offering salaries three times higher than other Korean universities.

KAIST has fulfilled its mission passionately and faithfully, thus far producing over 64,000 graduates including 12,400 doctoral degree holders. They have played a pivotal role in the nation’s industrialization and information revolution.

For instance, in the semiconductor industry which is dominating the global market, one in every four Ph.D.s is a KAIST alumnus. Currently, KAIST graduates account for 23% of leading positions in the science community of Korea.

KAIST now has earned global reputation as a world-class university. The QS World University Rankings placed KAIST 3rd among universities under 50 years old; while Thomson Reuters ranked KAIST the sixth most innovative university in the world and the top in the Asia-Pacific region for three consecutive years from 2016.

KAIST does not want to be satisfied with its current success. We will continue to move toward a new vision of our next chapter. For that we set up the Vision 2031 for the year 2031 which will mark the 60th anniversary of KAIST.

Our new vision is to become a Global Value-Creative Leading University creating academic value, technological value, economic value, and eventually creating social value.

As the first alumnus president, I have a mission to achieve this new vision for the next chapter, together with all our professors and staff members.

With its new vision, KAIST will emerge as a key university for science and technology innovation, contributing to the happiness and prosperity of humankind in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

I sincerely advise some of the students sitting here to make plans for your advanced studies at KAIST in the future.

Well, let me stop my remarks here by welcoming all of you once again and wishing you a wonderful and enjoyable time at KAIST.

Thank you very much.