The presidential office announced plans to establish a consultative body to link innovative research and development(R&D) projects currently being pursued by three different ministries and to sharply increase related budgets.

Park Sang-ook, senior presidential secretary for science and technology, said on Tuesday that the consultative body, which aims to support the sharing of knowledge among the project groups and improvement of related systems, is set to launch next week.

Emphasizing that President Yoon Suk Yeol has repeatedly talked about drastically increasing the R&D budget for next year, Park said the 2025 R&D investment policy will be put up for a review at the Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology's Deliberative Council next week.

Referring to R&D through international cooperation, the presidential aide said Seoul is close to striking an agreement to join Horizon Europe, the European Union's joint funding program for research and innovation.

The aide said the administration is also bolstering efforts to support young researchers, such as earmarking a portion of the budget for a follow-up to the announced provision of scholarships and living expense coverage for graduate students in natural sciences and engineering.