Korean state-funded think tanks criticized for offering indiscrete bonuses

South Korean state-funded think tanks are under controversy for having offered performance bonuses to employees under disciplinary action, data showed on Wednesday.

According to data obtained from the National Research Council of Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences (NRC) by Representative Yoo Yeong-ha from the People Power Party, 26 government-funded research institutes awarded performance bonuses worth 68.29 billion won to employees between 2020 and 2024.

Last year alone, the amount reached 16.44 billion won.

The performance bonus system was introduced to enhance research productivity.

It functions as an incentive-based reward that is differentially paid based on evaluations of employees’ research achievements.

It is operated using the remaining budget from each institution – funded by taxes – and surplus revenue generated through research projects.

As of last year, however, performance bonuses were paid to 5,312 employees, which exceeds the total number of staff at research institutions (5,120), indicating that bonuses were also awarded to non-research personnel.

This included not only researchers but also general staff, short-term contractors, and even former employees.

There have been numerous cases where employees who received heavy disciplinary actions were awarded large performance bonuses.

One researcher, for example, and two administrative staff members who had been suspended from duty each received bonuses exceeding 6 million won.

There were also cases where employees under a three-month pay reduction penalty received bonuses worth several million won.

According to Representative Yoo, only eight out of 26 institutions had regulations excluding disciplined employees from bonus eligibility as of last year.

“There are cases of suspended or penalized staff receiving millions of won in bonuses based on evaluation criteria that have little to do with their actual support of research,” said Yoo, citing earlier recommendations from the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission, a national watchdog for institutional frameworks, to revise the bonus system.

However, no reforms have been made.

An obstacle to reforming the system is that institutions must go through labor-management negotiations to revise related policies.

In 2017, the government abolished the performance-based salary system to allow public institutions to independently determine their pay structures through labor-management autonomy.

Since then, the performance bonus system has also been left to the discretion of each research institution.