SEOUL - South Korea is 3.08 years ahead of China but 3.36 years behind Japan in terms of technological prowess, the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) announced.

In a survey of 245 manufacturing companies, the FKI, a lobbying group for large conglomerates, said it may take about 4.27 years to surpass Japan in technology, while China needs only 3.76 years to overtake Korea.

Despite the current gap in technology, the survey showed, China's rapid growth is worrying for Korea as it may fall behind China before catching up with Japan. Multinational companies' robust investment in China, coupled with concomitant technology transfer, will continue to improve the level of technology, while upgrading the quality of research personnel, FKI said.

FKI warned South Korea will likely lose competitiveness to China in the fields of car and car parts, and it may not catch up with Japan in nonmetal and machinery areas over the cited period.

Nevertheless, South Korea is expected to maintain a lead over China and Japan in shipbuilding and construction technology even after five years, while they may engage in a neck-and-neck race in telecommunications and electronics, according to the survey.

"Japan has superb technology infrastructure and a high level of technology in basic science and China provides investment support for R&D [research and development] under a strong leadership of CEOs," said Lee In-yeol, an executive vice president of the FKI. "But our companies lack the centripetal force of R&D."