Korea marks first Engineers' Day as industry ministry pledges fairer rewards

South Korea's industry ministry held the first Engineers' Day ceremony on Friday, joining the Korean Academy of Engineering to honour the people behind the country's industrial rise and to pledge what the ministry described as practical changes in how they are recognised and rewarded.

Some 100 people attended the event at the National Assembly Members' Office Building, including National Assembly Speaker Cho Jeong-sik, lawmaker Choi Soo-jin and figures from industry, academia and research.

A bill to designate Oct. 30 as a statutory Engineers' Day under the Act on Promotion of Industrial Technology Innovation is under parliamentary review, proposed by Speaker Cho.

A total of 13 awards were handed out, including the Dongtap Industrial Medal, the Industrial Service Medal, presidential and prime ministerial commendations, a National Assembly speaker's merit award and honours from the industry minister and the academy's chairman. The top honour, the Dongtap Industrial Medal, went to Hong Tae-min, a research fellow at Hanwha Ocean who has spent more than three decades developing shipbuilding welding technology. The ministry credited him with a rail-free automatic welding system that shortened hull assembly times, improved working conditions and cut manual work inside enclosed spaces, reducing industrial accidents. Hong has also advised a US shipyard on applying the technology on site.

Other recipients included Lee Jung-ho, an executive director at Hyundai Motor, who was awarded the Industrial Service Medal for developing the world's first flexible body, dedicated suspension and regenerative braking system for purpose-built vehicles; Yang Se-hyun, chief technology officer at DinoTCIA, who received a presidential commendation for designing an AI system semiconductor architecture; and Kim Ju-seong, a principal researcher at Samsung Heavy Industries, who took a prime ministerial commendation for design work that improved the operating performance of floating liquefied natural gas facilities.

After the ceremony, Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan took part in a panel discussion with Ahn Jun-mo, a Korea University professor; Kim Young-oh, dean of Seoul National University's engineering college; Park In-kyu of KAIST; and Shin Jung-kyu, chief executive of Rebellions, alongside younger engineers. The panel drew on "Big Question 10," a set of core questions selected by the academy, and focused on two of them: how physical AI working alongside people can operate safely while raising productivity, and how Korea can cultivate the next industrial technologies the world needs. The minister also took questions and suggestions from engineers in the room.

"I hope today's first Engineers' Day becomes a starting point for widely communicating the value of the engineers who contributed to Korea's industrial development, and for moving toward a society where engineers are more respected and can work with pride," said Yoon Eui-joon, chairman of the Korean Academy of Engineering.

Kim, the industry minister, said he had looked back on whether the hopes of Korean engineers had been adequately supported, describing their wish to be given chances to grow, to be fairly compensated for their contributions and to be a source of pride to their families.

"The industry ministry will take the lead in creating practical change so that engineers can gain more opportunities for challenge and growth and receive fair evaluation and compensation," he said.

Friday's ceremony opens a run of events through the end of the year, including an industrial technology academy programme on Nov. 2, a women engineers' conference on Nov. 6, an engineering festival on Nov. 19 and the Korea Tech Festival on Dec. 9.