On Korea-EU Future S&T Cooperation: Focusing on the ways of the EU FP Participation through Comprehensive Agreement
Authors:   Asia-Europe Perspective Association, Jang Sung-Il , Song Chi-Ung 
Published: June 2018

Due to recognition of the significance of governmental level’s R&D and efforts of many Korean researchers, Korea has made a great deal of improvements in terms of R&D investment, and the country’s technology level has achieved progress which is very close to the world top level. R&D investment per GDP of Korea has constant increase from 2.63% in 2003 to 3.47% in 2007 which is quite close to those of Japan and the US, however, the width of international cooperation in R&D is not so broad as Korea has focused on Japan and the US. As the significance of the EU as a partner for S&T cooperation is increasing, Korea has started pay more attention on EU. EU is now running Framework Program, which is a well-known and comprehensive international research cooperation program, and as of now, the 7th Framework Program(2006~2013) is progressing.
Though Korea is very eager to have more close cooperation with the EU, Korea's participation on the Framework Program which can be a good indication for S&T cooperation with the EU is relatively inactive when it is compared to the activities of Japan and China. That is partly due to poor understanding of the FP and scarce information on the European research information, and language barrier. Addition to these problems, the fundamental issue on funding from EU can not be neglected, that is, it is not easy for Korea to receive direct EU funding as the country's status in the FP is classified as 'industrialized countries' along with the US, Canada, Japan.
This paper explores the possible fundamental changes in Korea-EU S&T Cooperation relations by concluding comprehensive agreement(such as Association Agreement) which could pave the way for changing Korea's status in the EU FP from ‘industrialized countries’ to ‘ICPC.’ As Korea is classified as industrialized countries along with the U.S., Japan, and Australia, the country could not receive any direct funding from the EU, which, in turn, led to inactive commitments of Korean researchers in the previous EU FP. To tackle that problem this paper reviews the EU-Mexico cooperation relation and suggests ways for enhancing Korea-EU S&T Cooperation. Considering that many research papers in Korea have not pay attention to the structural issues in the Korea-EU S&T Cooperation in terms of the EU FP, this paper sheds light on the structural matters, namely, the Korea's status in the EU FP, and this is one of the contributions this paper can make to previous literatures on the Korea-EU S&T Cooperation.
This paper suggests conclusion of comprehensive agreement with EU as Mexico did in 1997 which included economic as well as political and social cooperation. Recent EU cooperation with third party countries have shown comprehensive cooperation rather than mere economic centric cooperation, and the 1997 cooperation agreement so-called 'Global Agreement' between EU and Mexico is the good example of this kind. Considering the fact that Mexico and Korea are the member country of OECD with similar economic status, the way Mexico has stepped so far gives us significant implications on further S&T cooperation. When Korea is re-classified as ICPC(International Cooperation Partner Countries) as Mexico, it means Korea could benefit direct research funding from EU in the next FP. Considering that Korean researchers felt so much burden in securing funding by themselves when applying FP, status change from 'industrialized countries' to 'International Cooperation Partner Countries' will actually encourage Korean researchers to participate in FP, which will eventually contribute to Korea-EU S&T cooperation.
Conclusion of comprehensive agreement, however, does not guarantee Korea's status change in the next EU FP. Rather it means that Korea would have more negotiating power if Korea holds more close and comprehensive relationship with the EU. Therefore, Korea should learn any lessons from the previous cooperation between Mexico and the EU.