This article investigates the reshaping of South Korean science and technology in the first half of Park Chung Hee's administration. The national goal of economic development advocated by the military government was used to promote science and technology. At that time, young scientists and engineers who had studied in the United States formed the π-Club and emerged as leaders of South Korea's scientific community, consistently advocating applied and industrial research. Scientists' newfound political power shifted the core of science and technology from universities to government-supported research institutes, including the Korea Institute of Science and Technology. The state intervened persistently to influence the direction of science and technology. Under these circumstances, despite the rapid advances that applied science made under Park's administration, pure science and basic technology languished.
