S. Korea’s brain drain worsens as top scientists flee abroad

South Korea is facing a severe “brain drain” as top scientists and researchers are leaving for better opportunities abroad. The core issue is that while the country’s science and technology are advanced, the research infrastructure has failed to keep up. This forces leading academics to seek environments with better support. For instance, 56 professors have left Seoul National University for overseas institutions in the past four years alone, particularly from science and engineering departments. A major contributing factor is the financial struggle of universities, which, due to a 17-year freeze on tuition fees, cannot offer competitive salaries or invest in aggressive talent recruitment. Consequently, in 2021, South Korea became a net exporter of scientific talent, with more scientists leaving the country than entering.

The problem is severe in advanced fields like artificial intelligence and autonomous driving. According to Stanford University’s AI Index 2025, South Korea ranks 35th out of 38 OECD countries for net inflow of AI talent with a master’s degree or higher, at minus 0.36 per 10,000 people. This means more AI experts are leaving South Korea than entering. The gap is much wider than in technology leaders like the United States (+1.07) and Japan (+0.54), and even exceeds countries like Argentina (-0.22) and Greece (-0.25).