Science ministry awards four officials for phone-fraud and research reforms

South Korea's science ministry on Monday named four officials as winners of its fourth special performance award, honoring work that cut down on phone fraud and reduced the paperwork facing government-funded researchers.

The Ministry of Science and ICT said the awards, which come with a vice-ministerial citation, carry 10 million won ($7,478) for each lead honoree and 3.5 million won ($2,617) for each supporting official. A ceremony was held on Nov. 3.

Kim Dong-hyun, a deputy director, was named lead honoree and Kim Myung-jae, an official, supporting honoree for their work on measures against voice phishing and so-called burner phones — handsets opened under borrowed or stolen identities and used in crimes. The ministry estimates annual losses from voice phishing at about 1.3 trillion won ($972 million) and the number of such phones used in crimes at 20,000. The two officials drew up and carried out a comprehensive plan against illegal mobile-phone use that strengthened identity checks at sign-up and required sellers to warn customers that lending out a phone number is illegal. They also took part in joint inspections across government bodies that led to business suspensions for dealers who opened accounts improperly.

Suh Seung-ho, a deputy director, was the lead honoree and Choi Won-young, an official, the supporting honoree for loosening the rules around research spending and thinning out the forms researchers must file. The two introduced a research innovation allowance that can be spent without item-by-item classification within 10 percent of direct costs, and switched indirect-cost rules to a negative list that lets spending proceed unless it is explicitly barred. They also overhauled the government's national research and development forms, cutting those researchers must submit themselves to 154 from 2,171. The ministry expects the changes to remove about 400,000 form submissions a year and save roughly 20,000 hours of administrative work.

Vice Science Minister Koo Hyuk-chae said the honorees had turned existing systems around by listening to the public and to people in the field. "We will continue to do our best to create bold support and a dynamic working environment so that public officials who do not settle for convention and work proactively can receive due encouragement and rewards," he said.