During a visit to Purdue University in Indiana last

During a visit to Purdue University in Indiana last month, I met Mark Lundstrom, who holds the position of Chief Semiconductor Officer at Purdue University. Hynix was not explicitly mentioned in the meeting at the time, but Purdue University held the meeting on the premise that a global top semiconductor company would build a factory near Purdue and that it would invest in R&D and education related to semiconductors. And today, as expected, the news of Hynix's investment in HBM, a state-of-the-art technology, was officially confirmed by Hynix.
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Before visiting Indiana, Georgia Tech in Atlanta had recently heard that Hyundai Motor's large-scale factory construction and Korean companies' secondary battery factory construction were making up the second manufacturing boom. They also discussed related projects with Georgia Tech's mechanical engineering and the Manufacturing Institute for cooperative projects with Korean companies, including Hyundai.
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In January this year, I visited a state-of-the-art Hyundai Motor factory in Singapore. Perhaps in the automobile industry, it was second only to Tesla's innovative factory. The factory is located near NTU, Singapore's top engineering school, and an NTU professor attended the meeting to discuss cooperation with Korean universities.

In December last year, Arizona State University invited them to hold a seminar and discussed opening related Korean semiconductor curriculum with Arizona State University. The related discussion is ongoing.
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The de-Koreanization of semiconductors, secondary batteries, automobiles, and other high-tech manufacturing, which are Korea's core technologies, is rapidly progressing. In the past, it is being revised to a strategy of directly producing state-of-the-art products, breaking away from the strategy of creating large-scale standard factories in Korea and building a kind of copy factories overseas, or producing state-of-the-art products overseas. The state-of-the-art memory HBM factories are not in Korea, but in Indiana in the U.S., Hyundai Motor's state-of-the-art automation plants in Singapore and Atlanta in the U.S., not Korea, and secondary batteries are already applying state-of-the-art technology to overseas factories.
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In the high-tech manufacturing industry, a factory is not just a place to make things, but a high-tech test bed. So, when a factory moves abroad, technology leaks will inevitably occur right away in the country. This is what MIT professors have argued in their book "Production in the Innovation Economy" for 20 years.
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Given the current international situation and industrial ecosystem, the state cannot help prevent such high-tech leakage and de-manufacturing. If so, domestic research and university technology must actively cooperate with overseas to build a cooperative network model if they have no choice but to go abroad. Singapore has been successful with this strategy. The biggest error is that they are not aware of the changing situation, are obsessed with the politics of nationalism and nationalism, and are unable to recognize the changing situation. It is a turbulent era. And a new issue story? Byun Hee-soo returns to the military.
- Welcome to the decision of Sergeant Heesu Byun's death

On March 29, 2024, the Ministry of National Defense's Central Military Accident Review Committee decided that the death of the late Sergeant Byun Hee-soo was "suspended in duty."

In accordance with the disposition that the National Human Rights Commission of Korea recommended the Ministry of National Defense to re-examine Sergeant Byun Hee-soo's death on January 31, 2023, the Ministry of National Defense's Central Military Accident Review Committee conducted a re-examination on March 29, 2024, and changed the death classification of Sergeant Byun from general death to death.

Three years and a month have passed since Sergeant Byun passed away, and two and a half years have passed since the Daejeon District Court ruled that the forced discharge was illegal and canceled. At the time of the lawsuit for revocation of the disposition, the court made it clear that the forced discharge was an illegal disposition by the Army based on transgender discrimination. The illegal disposition destroyed one's precious dream. Therefore, the state and the military deserved responsibility for the death of Sergeant Byun. Although it took too long and painful time to be recognized for the responsibility, I welcome the belated decision to die in the line of duty with longing and sorrow.

Even after losing, the Ministry of National Defense and the Army arbitrarily set a deadline for Sergeant Byun to avoid examination of his death in the line of duty. Despite the recommendation of the President's Military Death Accident Investigation Committee to recognize his death in the line of duty, the Army's Military Casualty Review Committee classified Sergeant Byun Hee-soo as a non-permanent on December 1, 2022. There was no logic or basis just like when deciding to be forced to discharge from the military. The shameful image of our military, which was cowardly even in front of an opportunity to admit and correct mistakes, should also be remembered for a long time.

The decision to die in the line of duty will not be the complete restoration of honor for transgender soldier Byun Hee-soo. We will solve the remaining homework so that the military can become a safe space for LGBTQ people so that such tragedies do not happen again. Furthermore, we will continue to live our lives by weaving the precious wishes of Sergeant Byun, who wished for a world where minorities live together without being frustrated in front of their dreams.

Sergeant Byun Hee-soo, who was proud of soldiers more than anyone else and firmly believed in the military as my organization. I hope that her soul will return to the military with a clear smile.

I pray for the rest of the deceased once again with everyone's long memories and resolutions.

2024. 4. 4.

Military Human Rights Center
Major General Im Tae-hoon