A scientific practitioner who laid the foundation for the industrial development of South Korea by introducing frontline scientific and technological knowledge, including the design of the Pohang Iron & Steel Company (POSCO), the promotion of original car models, and the establishment of the national standards, etc.
The late Zae Quan Kim
Formerly the 1st and the 2nd President of the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS)
(1933~2017)
- Academic background
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1956
Graduated from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Seoul National University
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1958
Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Graduate School of the Technical University of Munich
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1961
Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Graduate School of the Technical University of Munich
- career
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1967~1972
The Director of the Research Department 1 and Specialized Devices & Materials Research Lab at the Korea Institute of Science & Technology (KIST)
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1972~1973
Vice President of the Agency for Defense Development (ADD)
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1973~1974
1st Assistant Deputy Minister of the Trade and Industry in charge of the heavy industries
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1974∼1975
Director of the National Center for Industrial Standards Testing
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1975∼1980
The 1st and the 2nd President of the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS)
- Awards received
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1971
Bronze Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit
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1998
May 16 National Award
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2001
Order of Science and Technology Innovation Medal
Dr. Zae Quan Kimis a scientist and an engineer who laid the foundation for the industrial development of South Korea based on science and technology by designing the Pohang Iron & Steel Company, developing original car models , and establishing a national standards system, etc.
He was born in 1933 in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi-do, and enrolled into the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Seoul National University. However, he had to continue his study at the United Wartime University due to the outbreak of the Korean War. Following graduation, he was selected as a recipient of scholarship by the German government, and successfully completed his Ph.D. degree program at the Graduate School of Mechanical Engineering of the Technical University of Munich in 1961 with the thesis entitled "The effect of aluminum nitride on the recrystallization of mild steel structure." While in Germany, he studied a wide range of disciplines including mechanical engineering, steel engineering, and metallurgy, etc.
Upon graduation, he worked for DEMAG, a steel company in the West Germany, where he wrote a report on based on his observations of the steel industry in Germany. This plan was presented to President Park Chung-hee of the time during his visit to West Germany in 1964, and later it became the foundation for the establishment of the first general steel mill in Korea. At the time of founding the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) in 1966, Dr. Zae Quan Kim was the only scientist who studied and worked in Germany among the 18 overseas scientists recruited and returned to Korea.
After returning to Korea as the Director of the Research Department 1 at the Korea Institute of Science & Technology (KIST), Dr. Zae Quan Kim wrote a in 1969, thereby leading the construction of first general steel mill in Korea. In this process, Dr. Kim persevered with his plan to establish the Pohang Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. (currently, POSCO), the first integrated steel mill in Korea, to produce steel and iron in the blast furnace format in spite of the concerns of the Japanese technical experts who were in charge of the negotiation for the Korea-Japan Claims Fund.
In 1973, when the first phase of the Pohang Iron & Steel Plant was completed, Dr. Kim was appointed as the 1stAssistant Deputy Minister of the Trade and Industry in charge of the heavy industries. As the Assistant Deputy Minister, he focused on fostering the infrastructural industry, in particular, the automobile industry that he deemed to be the 2ndmost important industry that was necessary in cultivating the heavy industry of Korea. As early as 1962, following the establishment of the , domestic companies such as Kia and Saenara Motors, etc. were already trying to produce vehicles through the localization of parts of foreign models. However, the localization rate of automobile parts was only 21% by 1966, and the development and cultivation of the domestic automobile industry in Korea seemed futile.
In order to overcome such an obstacle, Dr. Kim promoted an automobile industry policy for the development of original car models, taking one step further from the localization of components. In 1973, he supported the development of PONY by Hyundai Motors by completing the and the . Officially released in 1975, the sales of PONY were 10,726 in that year, accounting for 44% of the domestic market. By 1978, 50,044 PONY vehicles were produced with the localization rate of all the components reaching approximately 90%. This was a major milestone in the process of establishing a solid foundation for the industrialization of Korea.
In 1974, Dr. Kim stepped down from his position as an Assistant Deputy Minister in 1974 to assume the post of the Director of the National Institute of Industrial Standards (NIIS). The NIIS was a government agency that dealt with testing, analysis ,and appraisal of industrial standards at the time. However, Dr. Kim felt that the establishment of a national standards system is essential for the future advancement of the industries in Korea and directed the establishment of the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS). KRISS was established in 1975 after having entered into a $5 million loan agreement with AID of the USA, and Dr. Kim was appointed as its first President.
As the President of KRISS, Dr. Kim introduced a variety of state-of-the-art standardization equipment and began to establish a national standard system for precision measurement and metrology. A representative example was the introduction of the Korean Standard Time. By securing international atomic time based on a cesium atomic clock and synchronizing it with a mobile atomic clock at the U.S. Naval Observatory, he secured Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) and realized Korea’s independent time standard. Accordingly, Dr. Kim made significant contributions to the advancement of industries in Korea by establishing a standard system for time, mass and length, etc., which is essential for the precision industry.
In recognition of the achievements he has made, Dr. Kim was awarded the Bronze Tower of Order of Industry Merit in 1971, the May 16 National Award in 1998, and the Order of Science and Technology Innovation Medal in 2001. Dr. Zae Quan Kim was a scientist and practitioner who laid the foundation for the industrial development of Korea ranging from steel and automobile industries to national standards based on science and technology.
