Ministry of Foreign Affairs "Direct Hit on 'Distortion of Foreign Governments' Positions"... Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy "Article Groundless" (Comprehensive)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy reporters Lee Ji-eun and Jung Dong-hoon] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) fired a direct shot at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE), accusing it of "distorting the positions of foreign governments and using them as a rationale for government organization restructuring." This revealed the underlying conflict between the two ministries, which have been engaged in a turf war over the transfer of trade functions during the government transition period.

On the evening of the 29th, MOFA sent a text message to reporters stating, "We deeply regret the behavior of a domestic ministry that distorts facts by presenting them as the so-called positions of foreign governments without any consideration for our national interests and dignity, and uses them as a rationale for domestic government organization restructuring."

It added, "By relying on foreign countries to win discussions on domestic government organization restructuring, one cannot help but question whether we will be able to conduct negotiations based on our national interests with foreign countries in a dignified manner going forward."

Although MOFA did not name the ministry in question, considering that the statement was issued in response to an article by a certain media outlet, it was referring to MOTIE. The media outlet reported that "a senior U.S. government official expressed a negative stance on transferring trade functions to MOFA due to the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF)." MOFA believes the source of this article is MOTIE.

The Presidential Transition Committee (PTC) has shown a cautious stance, stating that the government organization restructuring plan has not yet been finalized. Shin Yong-hyun, spokesperson for the PTC, said, "A working group for the government organization restructuring task force has been formed and is working," adding, "The first draft of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s national agenda will be completed by the 4th of next month, and work on organizational restructuring will proceed accordingly."

However, there is growing momentum behind the direction of Ahn Cheol-soo, the head of the PTC, who pledged during his presidential campaign to reorganize the ministry into a 'Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade' by transferring trade functions to MOFA. Additionally, the presence of Kim Sung-han, former MOFA Second Vice Minister and currently the secretary of the foreign and security division at the PTC, further supports the possibility of transferring trade functions to MOFA.

The conflict between MOFA and MOTIE over trade functions is a structural issue that recurs every government transition period, and some experts argue that trade functions should be separated entirely. Professor Kim Hyun-wook of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy pointed out, "Creating an independent trade ministry like the United States Trade Representative (USTR) can neatly resolve the problem."

MOTIE maintains that the article is "groundless." A MOTIE official stated, "When the Korean government and National Assembly delegation visited Washington DC in March to mark the 10th anniversary of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA), no U.S. government official conveyed any opinions regarding our new government's trade organization to our officials," adding, "The article claiming that a senior U.S. government official expressed a negative stance to the Korean government about transferring MOTIE’s trade functions to MOFA is not true."