China catching up with SKorea in technology field: think tank

Seoul, Feb 9 (Yonhap) China is catching up with SouthKorea in key technologies that can have a negative impact onSeoul''s global competitiveness, a report said today.

The report by the state-run Science and Technology PolicyInstitute (STEPI) showed South Korea leading China by anaverage 2.5 years in 95 core areas as of 2010 compared to agap of 2.7 years tallied for 2008.

In the information technology, electronics andcommunication sectors, South Korea''s edge over China hadshrunk to just one year.

While China was able to reduce its technology gap in thetwo-year period, South Korea trailed the United States by 5.4years in cutting edge fields, while it was 3.8 years behindneighboring Japan.

"Such developments require redoubled efforts to gainground vis-a-vis the US and Japan," the report said. "Seoulneeds to do more to take the lead in technologies that canfuel future economic growth." A survey on which country led369 leading technologies revealed the United States ahead in279 fields, followed by the European Union and Japan that weretop in 56 and 33 fields, respectively. South Korea was aheadof other countries in the organic light-emitting diode andactive-matrix organic light-emitting diode production sector,it added. (Yonhap)