State-run STEPI advises establishing intelligence network with other countries

US Department of Energy (Getty Images)
US Department of Energy (Getty Images)

The Science and Technology Policy Institute, a South Korean state-run think tank, has voiced concerns about the United States government’s designation of South Korea on the list of sensitive countries hampering joint research between the two nations in the field of emerging technologies.

The US Department of Energy previously decided to add South Korea to the lowest category of the Sensitive and Other Designated Countries List, or SCL, in January this year. Seoul’s efforts to see Korea removed from the list before the addition became effective fell short, as the country was officially added to the SCL on April 15. The Energy Department’s list of sensitive countries also includes China, India, Russia, Taiwan and North Korea.

Noting the signing of a memorandum of cooperation between Korea, the US and Japan in December 2023, the STEPI’s recently released report pointed out that the sensitive country designation could limit Korea’s participation in the joint research and development activities in key technologies in the future.

The report said the impact of the listing should be closely monitored as research cooperation on future nuclear technologies such as next-generation nuclear power plants and nuclear reprocessing is mostly carried out with institutes under the Department of Energy. The report added that normal activities, which deal with insensitive nuclear technologies, may require extra approval processes or restrictions under the department’s 10 CFR Part 810.

Despite the listing’s unlikely impact on Korean exports to the US, the report underlined that it could be carefully reviewed as the department added export restriction bylaws when it updated its unclassified foreign national access program in 2022.

The report called for a one-point strategy to solve the issue in the short term by focusing on the essence of the matter, which is the fact that Korea’s R&D cooperation with the US is facing bumps, instead of making it seem as if there was a security issue between the two countries.

The report also advised the Korean government to set up a ministry-by-ministry protocol to deal with similar issues in a better coordinated manner and establish an intelligence network with countries that are in a similar position as Korea.


hwkan@heraldcorp.com