[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is expected to carry out personnel appointments for up to three first-grade directors around next month. Accordingly, a series of appointments for bureau chiefs within the ministry will take place, which is expected to somewhat ease the chronic personnel bottleneck.
According to the ministry on the 4th, Lee Hojun, Director of the Planning and Coordination Office, moved to the Blue House as the Secretary for Industrial Policy, and currently, Byun Youngman, Policy Planning Director (bureau chief), is acting as the interim Director of the Planning and Coordination Office.
With the Director of the Planning and Coordination Office position vacant, personnel appointments including this director position are expected to be carried out in a series, coinciding with the appointment of a newly established Vice Minister in charge of energy next month. The ministry is currently discussing with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety a plan to expand and reorganize the energy organization from the current structure of 1 office and 4 bureaus into a 2-office system. If the first Vice Minister of Energy is promoted from within the ministry and the energy organization expands to a 2-office system, a total of three director positions, including the Director of the Planning and Coordination Office, will become vacant.
The Vice Minister of Energy position is newly established to soothe the rigid Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in the aftermath of the nuclear phase-out policy, so there is a high possibility of internal promotion both inside and outside the ministry. As the energy organization is elevated to a vice ministerial level, the number of offices is also likely to increase by one. In this case, the number of director positions in the ministry will increase from the current seven to a total of eight.
Inside the ministry, candidates for promotion to director include Hwang Suseong, Industrial Policy Director, and Moon Dongmin, Director of the Resource Industry Policy Bureau. Director Hwang is said to have extensive expertise in both industry and energy fields, having served as General Manager of Industrial Infrastructure, Head of the New and Renewable Energy Policy Division, and Industrial Policy Director, and is highly trusted internally due to his excellent work performance. Director Moon is evaluated to have played a decisive role in the passage of the 'Korea Mining and Reclamation Corporation Act' in the National Assembly, which centers on integrating the Korea Resources Corporation and the Korea Mine Reclamation Corporation, both of which were on the brink of bankruptcy due to capital erosion, thus increasing his chances of promotion to director.
If director appointments are made on a large scale, follow-up appointments at the bureau chief level are also expected to proceed in a series. Accordingly, the severe internal personnel bottleneck is expected to be slightly alleviated.
Meanwhile, the establishment of the Vice Minister of Energy position at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is delayed beyond initial expectations as the opposition party opposes it as a party stance in connection with the government's nuclear phase-out policy. The Vice Minister of Energy position is to be established one month after the National Assembly passes the amendment to the Government Organization Act, but the delay in bipartisan agreement has prevented it from passing the National Assembly. The National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee held a subcommittee meeting on the bill yesterday but failed to reach a bipartisan agreement.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
