This study examines factors affecting the performance of basic research in South Korea. Creative Research Program (CRP), which is one of the major basic research programmes, is a study target. The survey of N = 120 researchers from universities and research institutes was conducted in 2010. Basic research performance which is the dependent variable was measured by subjective survey questions. The data were analysed using factor analysis and multiple regression. The result shows that leadership is the most important factor affecting the basic research performance based on the regression coefficient (β). Knowledge sharing, autonomy, collaboration and creativity in sequence were also statistically valuable factors that impact on the performance of basic research in South Korea.