Korean researchers seek opportunities overseas despite record funding

When Choi Jae-hyung (a pseudonym), a 29-year-old doctoral student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, made a surprise visit to Korea in December, he attended a get-together with his former classmates. The regular group consisted of 10 alumni who entered Seoul National University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering the same year. But the mood that night was subdued.

“Are you also not going to come back to Korea after getting your doctorate?” one classmate, who was working on his Ph.D.

, asked Choi. Choi hesitated, then nodded. “There are more opportunities, and the pay is better,” he said, comparing the United States with Korea.

Another classmate, who listened quietly, asked, “Why did I go into engineering? I should have tried applying to medical school.” For Choi and his peers, staying in engineering once seemed natural.

Even as half of their peers switched to medical school, they continued studying engineering. But by the time of their reunion, only Choi and four of his classmates remained on the engineering track. Others went to medical school or law school, jo