Itisagreatprivilegeformetopresentthe
progress in Korean materials science as a Guest Editor for this special issue of Advanced Functional Materials. Recently, high-performance research activities in materials science have been carried out in South Korea, as shown by the number of Korean articles published in Advanced Materials and Advanced Functional Materials. In particular, the editorial office of Advanced Functional Materials announced that ''8-10% of manuscript submissions come from Korea and the acceptance rate is far higher than average''. This evaluation implies that the standard of Korean materials science is at world-class level and excellent Korean researchers are involved in the development of materials science. Moreover, high-technology products including semiconductors, liquidcrystal display (LCD) televisions, cell phones, and automobiles have been manufactured from Hyundai, LG, and Samsung companies in Korea. Until now, Korean industries have been eager to expand the worldwide market share of their products. One third of cell phones and one fourth of display appliances in the whole world have received immense attention from consumers and demonstrate that Korea currently holds excellent high technology and is the 13 th national economic power. These academic and industrial achievements are striking considering the ruin resulting from the Korean War (1950)(1951)(1952)(1953).