South Korea boasts the second highest research and development (R&D) expenditure in proportion to its gross domestic product (GDP) among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
 
The OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard announced during the OECD Ministerial Meeting Daejeon 2015 World Science & Technology Forum on Monday that Korea's R&D investment accounted for four-point-15 percent of its GDP in 2013.
 
This is far higher than the OECD average of two-point-four percent and the second highest in the OECD after Israel at four-point-21 percent.
 
The OECD report also assessed South Korea as a leader in eleven of the top 20 fast-growing "disruptive technologies," which have the potential to disrupt existing industries.
 
Korea's technological prowess was especially recognized in secondary batteries, battery manufacturing, mobile application services and digital data transfer.
 
However, the country ranked below the OECD average in the science citation index, a gauge on the influence of Korean scientific research papers.