The South Korean Ministry of Trade & Industry wants governmnet and industry to invest an astronomical $39,500m between 1990 and 1994 to create a local high technology industry, with 40% of the total going into research and development and the rest in production facilities. According to the Los Angeles Times, development of supercomputers on a five-year time scale is a priority, as is a scientific satellite by 1992 and a communications satellite by 1996. The country wants to catch up and get into trade balance in microelectronics – exports were $4,900m in 1987 – computer-controlled machine tools and optics as well as non-computer areas such as bioengineering, fine chemicals and aircraft. But there are major problems to be overcome – although 31% of university students are studying various branches of engineering, laboratory facilities are primitive, and there are no funds for basic research. At present, research and development takes only 2% of gross national product, but that is double the 1984 level and the target is 3% in 1994.
