Push to Establish Aerospace Industry Promotion Agency... Concerns Over Overlapping Duties with Existing Organization

Kwon Seonghun, National Assembly Research Service Legislative Researcher: "Function Transfers and Staff Reassignments Must Go Hand in Hand"
Korea Aerospace Administration: "We Will Review Whether to Proceed with Establishment Based on Policy Research Results"

A warning has been raised that administrative inefficiency could worsen if the Korea Aerospace Administration’s existing organization and staffing are kept intact as plans for a Space and Aerospace Industry Promotion Agency are considered.

Even if the new agency is tasked with planning, managing and evaluating research and development (R&D) projects, leaving the same functions with the Korea Aerospace Administration could lead to duplicated work and unnecessary oversight. The need for a specialized agency is acknowledged, but critics say its establishment must go hand in hand with transferring functions from the existing organization and reallocating staff.

A view of the Korea Aerospace Administration headquarters. Photo courtesy of the Korea Aerospace Administration.

Kwon Seonghun, a legislative researcher at the National Assembly Research Service, told The Asia Business Daily by phone on Nov. 10: "If a specialized agency is created while the existing staff and functions are left as they are, inefficiency could actually increase. At a minimum, there needs to be a plan for whether the organization will be transferred or downsized, and, if it remains in place, what new responsibilities it will be given."

"The existing organization may create new work to maintain its functions," Kwon said. "If that work is unnecessary, oversight of the new specialized agency could simply become more intensive."

In a report published on Nov. 10 by the National Assembly Research Service, titled "Measures to Improve the Legal Framework and Implementation System for Advancing as a Space Power," Kwon and fellow legislative researcher Kim Najeong said the roles of existing laws and agencies should be clarified before enacting a Framework Act on Space and Aerospace, revising the Industry Promotion Act and establishing a Space and Aerospace Industry Promotion Agency.

Discussion of establishing the Space and Aerospace Industry Promotion Agency has moved on to the legislative and feasibility study stages. In February, Rep. Seo Cheon-ho of the People Power Party and 13 other lawmakers introduced a partial amendment to the Aerospace Industry Development Promotion Act that would provide a legal basis for establishing the agency. The Korea Aerospace Administration is also conducting policy research to assess the feasibility of its establishment. Daejeon and Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, are among the places seeking to host the agency.

A Korea Aerospace Administration official said: "To foster the space and aerospace industries, we first need to explore ways to strengthen the administration's role and identify the work the agency would carry out. We plan to consider whether to proceed with establishing the agency based on the results of the ongoing policy research."

The key question is what role the new agency would take on. The Korea Aerospace Administration currently plans, manages and evaluates projects directly, without a separate specialized agency for R&D project management. However, the bill introduced lists policy development, technology transfer and commercialization, workforce development and corporate support as the agency's responsibilities, but does not specify the planning, management or evaluation of R&D projects.

Kwon supports establishing the agency in principle. "In Korea, the government ministries typically handle policy, while specialized agencies such as the National Research Foundation of Korea carry out the planning, management and evaluation of R&D projects on their behalf," he said. "A specialized agency could take on these functions in the space sector as well."

The Korea Aerospace Administration's staffing structure is also related to these concerns. According to the report, as of October 2025, 133 of the administration's 289 employees were fixed-term civil servants, accounting for 46%. That share was about 27 times higher than the 1.7% at the Ministry of Science and ICT.

"Even if fixed-term civil servants have expertise in the space and aerospace sectors, experience managing R&D projects and handling administrative work is a separate matter," Kwon said. "If their terms end or staff are replaced, the problem of failing to accumulate project management experience could recur." He added: "A specialized agency that can manage projects on an ongoing basis is also necessary to address this problem."

"Revising the Industry Promotion Act Is Most Urgent"... Caution Over Integrating Space and Aerospace

Among the legal reforms being pursued by the government, Kwon identified revising the Industry Promotion Act as the most urgent task. The government's direction remains unclear: whether to enact a new law to foster the space industry or to comprehensively amend the existing Aerospace Industry Development Promotion Act.

The government proposed enacting a separate Space and Aerospace Industry Promotion Act in the revised Fourth Basic Plan for Space Development Promotion last year, but in its Space and Aerospace Industry Promotion Strategy announced in July 2026, it put forward a plan to comprehensively amend the existing Aerospace Industry Development Promotion Act.

The National Assembly Research Service noted that the existing Space Development Promotion Act already includes provisions on opening access to infrastructure, promoting startups and supporting space industry clusters. It said that, without revisions to the laws, support functions could overlap. It therefore proposed refocusing the existing Aerospace Industry Development Promotion Act on the aviation industry and transferring provisions supporting the space industry to a separate law to promote the space industry.

The report also called for a cautious approach to the idea of bringing space and aviation together under a single framework law. Although the Korea Aerospace Administration handles R&D in the aviation sector and some industry promotion work, major policies on aviation safety, air traffic and airports fall under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

"The government believes that integrating space and aviation would create greater synergies, but I wonder whether this would be an overly ambitious integration," Kwon said. "Just because science and technology and information and communications are under one ministry, does that mean they must be brought together under a single framework law?" He added: "Space and aviation do have similarities, but given that another ministry handles aviation-related regulations and industry matters, we need to consider whether there is any real need to integrate them under a framework law as well."

Improving the system for coordinating space projects across ministries was also cited as a task. The report said prior consultations and coordination of roles are important because the Korea Aerospace Administration and defense research institutes could develop similar technologies, such as launch vehicles, for different purposes. However, this does not mean that actual overlapping investment has been confirmed.

The National Assembly Research Service proposed requiring relevant ministries to consult with the Korea Aerospace Administration in advance when creating a space project above a certain scale or making a major change to one, and to submit written reasons if they do not accept the outcome of the consultation.

"We first need to clarify what functions the agency will take on," Kwon said. "To operate a specialized agency without duplicating work, we need specific details on whether it will handle R&D project management on the administration's behalf and how the existing organization and staff at the Korea Aerospace Administration will be adjusted."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.