South Korea will extend the maximum restriction on participation in national research and development projects from 10 years to 20 years for serious research-fund misuse or major research misconduct. The Ministry of Science and ICT said the partially amended National Research and Development Innovation Act cleared the National Assembly on the 20th of last month and was approved at a Cabinet meeting on the 8th. The revised law is scheduled to take effect in March 2027, six months after promulgation. The maximum sanction surcharge will rise from five times to 30 times the government research funding already disbursed. Penalties will be assessed according to the seriousness and intent of the violation, the number of offenses, and the project’s stage and progress, rather than applying the highest sanction uniformly. The amendment also establishes legal grounds for reporting suspected criminal misconduct to law enforcement or requesting investigations. Project selection will give greater weight to innovative research goals, while interim and final evaluations will move from results-based grading to qualitative reviews of outcomes and the ambition and quality of the research process. Projects that generate valuable knowledge through trial and error can receive follow-up support even when they miss innovative targets. Sanctions for poor results will focus on legal violations, contractual breaches and serious research-process problems rather than failure alone.