Director Hahn's third guest column on Seoul Newspaper, published on Oct. 5, 2020, delves into the current caliber of scientific research in the Republic of Korea in the context of the annual Nobel Prize award season.
Despite laments and recurrent criticisms over the lack of a Korean Nobel Prize winner in science, Hahn is optimistic that the country is on the right track to produce multiple worthy researchers for such an award - just as the nation has influenced the world in the fields of contemporary music (BTS), movies ("Parasite" and the corresponding awards), and various sports.
Hahn makes a general acknowledgement of Korean scientists with considerable achievements in their respective disciplines, who may eventually be awarded a Nobel Prize 20-30 years afterward. At the same time, he makes a remark on the late Korean-American physicist Benjamin Whisoh Lee who was perhaps the closest candidate for a Nobel prize.
Link to the column (in Korean): http://seoul.co.kr/news/newsView.php?id=20201006029006
Center for Exotic Nuclear Studies