July 2, 2025
Aree Moon, President of WISET / Professor at Duksung Women’s University
This fall, the APEC Summit will convene in Gyeongju for the first time in 20 years since the 2005 Busan meeting. Amid rising global uncertainty, this year’s summit will address layered crises and transitions, including demographics, climate, and the digital shift. Among these, “Population and AI” has been identified as a core agenda item, underscoring that artificial intelligence (AI) is not merely a technological issue but one intricately linked to human capital and broader demographic structures.
In the era of AI, human talent—especially science and technology talent—remains the decisive factor. As technology advances, the ability of people to design and operate it will ultimately determine the nation’s future. Yet Korea’s talent base is shrinking rapidly. The youth population stands at a global low of 10.6%, and the number of graduate students in STEM fields is projected to decline by half by 2050. This shrinking foundation for science and technology talent supply is a serious structural risk that threatens the sustainability of Korea’s technological competitiveness.
Compounding this problem is the growing outflow of domestic talent abroad. According to the 2024 report of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Sustainable Growth Initiative, Korea’s net outflow of AI talent per 10,000 people stands at -0.36, ranking 35th out of 38 OECD countries. The steady emigration of Ph.D.-level talent is stark evidence that Korea is losing ground in the global race for top-tier talent. What is needed now is not short-term fixes, but a structural and systematic talent development strategy.
First, we must actively encourage young people to enter STEM fields. It is telling that many Nobel laureates embarked on their research journeys in their twenties. Young people need an environment where they can grow as researchers without fearing failure, and institutional safeguards must be put in place so that graduate students and postdoctoral researchers—often caught in the blind spots of support systems—can continue their research without career interruptions.
Second, Korea must strategically pursue the inflow of global talent. Science and technology transcend borders. Korea’s four major institutes of science and technology have already begun recruiting postdoctoral researchers through job fairs in Boston and Silicon Valley. To sustain and scale such efforts, comprehensive improvements are needed in visa policies, settlement conditions, and research environments. Only then can Korea enhance its attractiveness as a “hub for science and technology,” a place where global talent chooses to stay and grow.
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(Electronic Times: https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/030/0003325303?sid=110)