South Korea's Public Research Institutes Lose Core Talent as Young Scientists Move to Universities

Researchers in their 30s and 40s dominate departures

South Korea's government funded science institutes lost 155 researchers through voluntary resignations in 2025, including 91 in their 30s and 46 in their 40s. Together, those two age groups accounted for 88.4% of departures, the highest share recorded in figures submitted by the National Research Council of Science and Technology (NST) to a parliamentary lawmaker.

The figures cover 23 institutes under NST and were disclosed on October 16, 2026, by Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Nam-kuk, a member of the National Assembly's Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee. Researchers in their 30s alone made up 58.7% of those leaving, while people in their 40s accounted for 29.7%.

Universities and other academic institutions were the main destination. Across the longer period examined, 62.7% of departing researchers in their 30s and 64.6% of those in their 40s moved into academia. Public institutes are therefore losing experienced staff at stages when they could be building research teams and taking responsibility for larger projects.

Kim described the departures as a concern for the country's scientific capacity. Speaking as a lawmaker scrutinizing the institutes, he said:

Researchers in their 30s and 40s are key personnel who will shoulder the future of national R&D. The fact that they cannot settle in public research institutes and end up leaving must be taken very seriously in terms of national science and technology competitiveness,

The pressure extends beyond recruitment. Pay, career prospects, housing and commuting arrangements all feature in the debate over how to keep researchers in public laboratories long enough to complete ambitious work.

What the departure figures measure

NST's longer count recorded 1,487 voluntary departures beginning in 2017, with researchers in their 30s and 40s making up 84.6%. The 2025 share of 88.4% was 3.8 percentage points higher than that longer period's figure.

The cumulative count has an unresolved date discrepancy: the initial account places its endpoint in June 2025, while the accounts dated October 16, 2026, describe the endpoint as June of that year. The annual breakdown of 155 departures refers to 2025.

Voluntary resignations mean researchers chose to leave, rather than reaching a compulsory retirement date. The percentages describe the people departing. To calculate the likelihood of a researcher in a particular age group leaving, readers would also need the total number employed in that group, which was not given.

Other NST figures put voluntary departures over five years at about 800, including 484 moves to universities, while another tally gives 1,288 across 23 institutes. The precise dates and counting boundaries of those two periods were not specified, so each total belongs to its own tally.

An earlier warning among younger scientists

Democratic Party lawmaker Hwang Jung-a had previously released figures obtained from NST, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute. Those data counted 1,253 voluntary departures between 2020 and June 2024, excluding categories such as mandatory and honorary retirement.

Researchers in their 30s or younger accounted for 788 of those departures, or 62.9%. Their share rose from 61.9% in 2020 to 64.2% in 2021, 64.4% in 2022 and 67.9% in 2023. That was an increase of six percentage points between 2020 and 2023.

The main developments span several years:

• 2020: Researchers in their 30s or younger accounted for 61.9% of voluntary departures in the earlier institutional tally.
• 2023: Their share reached 67.9%, and 27 researchers in that age range left before completing one year of service.
• June 2024: The cumulative count since 2020 reached 1,253 voluntary departures, including 788 people in their 30s or younger.
• March 4, 2025: New operating regulations took effect, opening greater scope for institutes to recruit distinguished outside researchers.
• 2025: Researchers in their 30s and 40s accounted for 137 of 155 voluntary departures at 23 NST institutes.
• October 16, 2026: Kim disclosed the latest annual breakdown.

Universities attract researchers with public laboratory experience

Academia's pull appears repeatedly across the figures. In Kim's longer series, almost two thirds of departing researchers in each of the two main age groups moved to universities or other academic institutions. In Hwang's earlier tally, academia accounted for 39.4% of all voluntary departures, the largest destination category.

The two percentages cover different groups: Kim's figures separate researchers in their 30s and 40s, while Hwang's destination figure covers departing researchers across ages. Together, they show that universities are a major competitor for staff already trained and experienced in public laboratories.

Researchers in their 30s who resigned had served an average of 4.3 years. Those in their 40s had an average tenure of 9.9 years. Institutes therefore face the task of replacing people with several years of knowledge about their equipment, methods and ongoing work.

Universities receiving those scientists gain that experience. For the laboratories losing them, the practical concern is continuity: colleagues may have to take over experiments, rebuild specialist skills or recruit replacements while projects are still running. The debate concerns where research capacity sits within South Korea as well as how many scientists the country trains.

Starting salaries and slow increases shape the competition

Public institute starting salaries are commonly described as roughly 40 million to 50 million won a year, with variation between institutions and qualifications. Another assessment places starting pay for researchers with doctorates at about 60% to 70% of the amount offered by large companies.

Average compensation across entire institutes is much higher, ranging from around 80 million won to more than 100 million won. Those averages include experienced staff and payments such as allowances, bonuses and benefits. A scientist considering a first appointment faces the starting salary and the expected pace of increases, rather than the institution's average.

Annual salary increases are described as typically around 1% to 2%, constrained by government personnel spending limits. At a salary of 50 million won, a 2% rise adds 1 million won a year, or about 83,333 won a month before deductions.

Companies are also attracting more departures. One NST tally recorded 11 voluntary moves into industry in 2020 and 28 in 2024, an increase of 17 and more than twice the earlier number. Universities remain the principal destination, but laboratories increasingly compete with businesses seeking expertise in fields such as artificial intelligence and quantum technology.

New hiring powers reach distinguished researchers first

Operating regulations that took effect on March 4, 2025, gave institutes more room to prepare compensation arrangements for distinguished outside recruits. Several laboratories began reviewing salary tables and recruitment rules to use that flexibility.

The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials planned to hire 29 people in 2025 across research, technical and administrative roles. Of those positions, 21 were research roles in humanoid robotics and artificial intelligence, indicating a concentrated effort to build capacity in those fields.

The Korea Institute of Science and Technology had already revised its salary arrangements while recruiting Korea University professor Lee Kwan-young to its clean hydrogen research institute. The Korea Institute of Industrial Technology was also reviewing external recruitment guidelines and preparing recruitment for April 2025.

Institutes considering prominent overseas recruits also faced practical work on visas and housing. At the same time, scientists already employed in the laboratories continued to face broader salary constraints. Special arrangements for a small number of distinguished recruits and better conditions for existing researchers address different parts of the staffing problem.

The science ministry also announced in November a plan to recruit around 600 researchers near the beginning of their careers each year. Keeping those recruits requires attention to the conditions they encounter after joining.

Housing and commuting enter the retention debate

Only five of 25 institutes under NST and the Korea AeroSpace Administration provide housing for general researchers. That amounts to one fifth of the institutions in that group, leaving housing decisions largely to employees at the others.

Commuting arrangements have become another source of concern. Following President Lee Jae-myung's January remarks about increasing the proportion of public institution employees who live locally, public agencies and science institutes began suspending metropolitan commuter buses in stages. The announced timetable set June for a complete shutdown.

Institute staff described limited alternative transport, including express buses running only once an hour. Employees with children also faced decisions about schools, childcare and access to medical services if they moved closer to work.

The government's regional development objective brings a concrete tradeoff for researchers: relocating a family may be difficult, while losing a commuter service can make remaining in the same job harder. Salary decisions, housing availability and transport policy consequently meet in the same household budget and daily schedule.

Changes to research funding also affect pay

The abolition of the Project-Based System (PBS) adds another layer to the debate. PBS is a framework that ties parts of institute funding and personnel costs to individual research projects. Changing it also requires decisions about payments connected to those projects.

Research allowances and other performance payments are expected to be reorganized as the system changes. Concerns within the institutes include how allowances will be divided between senior and junior staff, and whether revised arrangements could leave some more experienced employees earning less than colleagues with less service.

Researchers comparing jobs must consider total compensation, including variable payments, alongside basic salary. A funding reform intended to change how laboratories operate can therefore also change an employee's calculation about staying.

Career length features in that calculation too. Accounts of institute employment conditions describe a reduction in the retirement age from 65 to 61 and the application of a wage peak system from 2015. Under such a system, pay falls as an employee approaches retirement. These conditions place attention on both early career earnings and the later years of a scientific career.

Competition for talent reaches beyond South Korea

Recruitment approaches from China add an international dimension. Recorded emails seeking to attract researchers included 226 at the Korea Basic Science Institute, 188 at the Korea Institute of Materials Science, 127 at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information and 114 at the National Institute of Toxicological Sciences.

The approaches were described as extending beyond senior scientists approaching retirement to younger researchers, with high salaries and research funding used as incentives. The four institutional counts together amount to 655 emails; the number of researchers who accepted positions was not given.

Kim's proposed response centers on improved compensation and a stable research environment. Hwang has called for support covering education, research, employment and housing. Their proposals connect the professional side of retention with the practical conditions of daily life.

For public laboratories, recruiting a replacement is only part of the task. Maintaining teams through several years of research also requires competitive career prospects, predictable compensation and workable living arrangements. The departure figures place those conditions at the center of South Korea's effort to sustain its national research programs.

Key Points

• Of 155 researchers who voluntarily left 23 NST institutes in 2025, 137 were in their 30s or 40s, a record share of 88.4%.
• Across the longer series, academia attracted 62.7% of departing researchers in their 30s and 64.6% of those in their 40s.
• Average service before departure was 4.3 years for researchers in their 30s and 9.9 years for those in their 40s.
• An earlier tally counted 788 researchers in their 30s or younger among 1,253 voluntary departures from 2020 to June 2024.
• Pay limits, compensation reform, housing shortages and commuter bus withdrawals feature in concerns about retaining staff.
• Institutes are expanding recruitment, while lawmakers are calling for better conditions for researchers already employed.