In 1974, KSEA proposed to initiate a joint conference series with KOFST to be held in Korea with travel subsidies for the speakers by KOFST. In different names, the conferences were held either biennially or triennially since then and the tradition still continues. KOFST labeled the conferences as ”국내외 한국과학기술자학술대회 (1974, 1 차)”, “세계한민족과학기술자 종합학술대회 (제 1 차, 1980)”, “세계한민족과학기술자 종합학술대회 (1990, 제 1 차)”. According to several searches, it was found that, the meetings the names as “모국방문 그룹별 세미나”, “제 x 차 모국방문 학술세미나”, and “범세계한민족 종합학술대회.” In 1980, the KSEA Council decided to participate in the conferences only as individual members in one’s discipline, but not in the name of KSEA. In early days, the conference attendees were predominantly KSEA members from the U.S. Aside from the exact number of KOFST-initiated conferences in Korea, KSEA History Committee and the 2018 Mid-term Council meetings decided to include the following 5 conferences as “UKC Conferences” based on somewhat arbitrary criteria which were debated fiercely. As shown in the previous table, the 5 conferences were held in Korea in 1974, 1976, 1978, 1980 and 1982. Due to the limit in KOFST budget allocated only for the speakers, the numbers were rather small.

However, the attendees often landed jobs in Korea, producing a sizable impact each year. Examining numerous reports by the former presidents of KSEA [1], there were several other conferences held in Korea which many KSEA members participated but

were not counted as UKC perhaps because of the 1980 Council decision. Regardless of the counting methods, many KSEA members have participated continuously between 1981 and 1991. For brevity, the details are omitted.

It is of great importance to note that these conferences in Korea, while the number of KSEA participants was relatively small in each year, created a great momentum in recruiting them permanently to Korean universities, R&D centers and businesses.

Consequently, the investment made by KOFST and Korean government was instrumental in harnessing the U.S. educated brain power for accelerating the “Miracle of Han River.”