Misconduct including improper use of research funds and paper manipulation was found in national research and development projects, but decisions to recover funds remained at just over 1 percent of total research funding. In 4 out of 10 sanctioned projects, no recovery amount was decided, prompting calls to strengthen the effectiveness of sanctions.

Data submitted by the National Research Foundation of Korea to Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Jung-heon (이정헌), a member of the National Assembly's Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, showed 209 national R&D projects were sanctioned for misconduct from 2021 to August this year. The projects involved total research funding of 240.4 billion won.

Of that, the amount of research funds decided for recovery was 3.25 billion won, or 1.35 percent of total funding. In particular, 85 of the 209 sanctioned cases, or 40.7 percent, had a recovery decision amount of 0 won.

Additional penalty charges imposed separately from recovery totalled 2.27 billion won, or 0.94 percent of total research funding. The National Research and Development Innovation Act stipulates that penalty charges can be imposed up to five times the government R&D funding already paid, depending on the reason for sanctions.

By type of misconduct, the most common cases were those in which R&D funding was used for purposes other than those specified, with 103 cases. Total research funding for those projects was 146.4 billion won, but the recovery decision amount was 2.92 billion won and penalty charges were limited to 597.9 million won.

There were also 58 cases in which research was abandoned without justifiable reason. But the recovery decision amount was only 826,100 won and penalty charges were just 16.13 million won. In many cases, restrictions on participation in national R&D projects were imposed after considering factors such as the severity of the violation.

Serious research misconduct, such as paper fabrication and falsification, totalled 32 cases. Those projects had total research funding of 45.1 billion won, but the recovery decision amount was 100.52 million won. Only 1 case was subject to penalty charges, at 256,000 won.

Lee said it was a "slap-on-the-wrist punishment" not to properly recover funds even though misconduct and embezzlement were found in national R&D projects funded by taxpayers. He said the government should fully re-establish recovery standards for projects where fraudulent research is found and greatly strengthen punitive penalty charges to establish transparency and accountability in national R&D finances.