Reference News Network, February 22 report: According to the Yonhap News Agency on February 22, in the 11 key areas and 136 core scientific and technological fields that South Korea has focused on, the technological gap between South Korea and China widened further between 2022 and 2024. In the strategic technology field, the secondary battery (rechargeable battery or storage battery — note from this site) technology, which was previously the only one where South Korea led, was also overtaken by China.
According to the report, the Ministry of Science and Information and Communications Technology of South Korea submitted to the National Science and Technology Advisory Council a "2024 Technical Level Assessment Results (Draft)" showing that, with the United States as the benchmark for the highest global technical level, the technical gap between South Korea and the U.S. in 2024 was 2.8 years, while the gap between China and the U.S. was 2.1 years, and the gap between South Korea and China was 0.7 years. The technical gap between South Korea and the U.S. narrowed from 3.2 years to 2.8 years, decreasing by 0.4 years; however, in comparison with China, South Korea was overtaken by China in 2022, with a gap of 0.2 years, and the gap increased by 0.5 years in 2024.
This assessment involved quantitative analysis of papers and patents in 11 fields and 136 national core technologies among five countries and regions—South Korea, China, Japan, Europe, and the U.S.—and combined qualitative evaluations from 1,180 expert questionnaires. In terms of overall technical level, with the U.S. at 100%, the EU was at 93.8%, China at 86.8%, Japan at 86.2%, and South Korea at 82.8%.
In the assessment of 50 national strategic technologies, compared to the U.S., South Korea's technical gap was 2.6 years, while China's was 1.4 years, with China showing particularly strong catching up momentum. South Korea reduced its gap with the U.S. by 0.4 years from 3 years in 2022, while China reduced its gap with the U.S. by 0.8 years during the same period, accelerating the narrowing of the strategic technology gap.
In 2022, South Korea was the top in the secondary battery field, leading by 0.9 years. However, the 2024 assessment showed that China had moved to the top, creating a technical gap of 0.2 years between South Korea and China. Similarly, in the semiconductor and display fields, where South Korea ranked second in 2022, the technical gaps in 2024 were 0.7 years behind the U.S. for South Korea and 0.8 years behind the U.S. for China; in terms of technical level ratio, South Korea was at 91.2%, and China at 91.5%, with China achieving an overtake.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/7609637679169045011/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.