South Korean universities are to face increased scrutiny after two professors at Seoul National University (SNU) were charged in July with embezzling research funds.

A growing awareness of abuse of research money has spurred a nationwide investigation. Alleged abuses include organizing meetings and entertaining laboratory members with funds that were allocated for different purposes, such as grants for postdocs and other staff.

“Often it's mismanagement rather than embezzlement,” says Chan-Mo Park, a digital-image processing specialist and president of Pohang University of Science and Technology on the east coast.

But in the case of Byung-Hwan Oh, a professor of civil engineering at SNU, the money reportedly found its way into his bank account. Oh, who earlier this year won the American Concrete Institute's Wason Medal for Materials Research, has been charged with misappropriating about 1.6 billion won (US$1.6 million) in research funds.

Hustle and bustle: will further grant abuse be uncovered in South Korea's scientists? Credit: M. HENLEY/PANOS

The charges say that Oh bought research equipment from companies that did not exist and fabricated receipts. Earlier in July, Youngman Cho, a mechanical engineering professor at SNU, was detained for the misappropriation of 190 million won.

The cases were a shock to “us and to all the citizens”, says Myoung-Mo Kim, chair of SNU's civil-engineering department. The cases have led to the resignation of the dean of SNU's college of engineering.

The state prosecutor's office reportedly has evidence against eight more SNU researchers, as well as material on scientists at five other universities and one national research institute.

Park says the main problem is that SNU and many other Korean universities have no central purchasing office — professors buy their own equipment and research materials. “It's a loophole for unethical people,” agrees Sun-Young Kim, a molecular biologist at SNU.

He adds that in South Korea big grant winners get no additional salary for their success, and some feel entitled to skim a bit off the top as a reward.

SNU is now trying to establish a central purchasing system, although some of the university's scientists suspect that it might not be able to afford the major investment in staff that would be needed. But there has to be a change of policy, says Myoung-Mo Kim.

Meanwhile, other universities await a visit from the prosecutor's office. Founded 19 years ago, Pohang University of Science and Technology has had a centralized purchasing system from the beginning, says Park. Nevertheless, he is taking measures to boost morale so that researchers do not feel like cheating.

And he is looking into the university's rules and regulations. “There still could be loopholes. If so, we must close them,” he says.