Despite the Aerospace Administration’s ‘speed war’, the budget is ‘dropping’, and the space industry is ‘dead’ under the sound fiscal policy

Aerospace Administration opens at the end of May, recruiting talent ‘speed’
Work coordination issues between institutions ‘still persist’; there is room for conflict after the opening of the agency
Can the space industry, which failed to avoid budget cuts, play its role?

The National Space Control Tower, the Korea Aerospace Administration, will open in Sacheon, Gyeongnam, as early as the end of May. The government plans to speed up the transfer of research institutes, organizations and projects, secure professional manpower, and prepare an office building so that work can be carried out at the same time as the opening of the Aerospace Administration. In particular, the plan is to recruit and recruit excellent human resources at home and abroad for the remaining four months to secure 5 research personnel and 200 administrative personnel, including the head of the Aerospace Administration. However, some are raising concerns as it appears that the capacity to secure adequate manpower and the budget to maintain it are insufficient. Due to the failure to avoid the aftermath of the Yoon Seok-yeol government’s R&D budget cuts, there is also criticism that even the budget that was allocated has become a light in the wind.

“Aerospace Administration, recruits talent through scouting”

Lee Jong-ho, Minister of Science and ICT, held a briefing on the Korea Aerospace Administration at the Seoul Government Complex on the 11th and said, “We will hire people with expertise for internal major positions through scouting (recruitment),” and added, “Researcher level or administrative staff will be transferred or recruited.” “We plan to fill the position through other means,” he said. It was also announced that the Korea Aerospace Research Institute and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, which are currently under the jurisdiction of the National Research Council for Science and Technology (NST), will also be transferred under the Aerospace Administration. Minister Lee said, “To this end, we are proceeding with related procedures such as composition of the board of directors and revision of the articles of incorporation,” adding, “Major positions within the space agency that require expertise include the Aeronautical Research and Astronomy Research Institute, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). “We will also actively hire overseas talent,” he explained.

He also emphasized, “There are many excellent talents, including Korean scientists, overseas at NASA and JAXA,” and “There are excellent foreigners in Russia and India, so we can hire foreigners or dual nationals.” At the same time, he said, “We will select excellent talent by allowing people from the Aerospace Research Institute and Astronomy Research Institute and domestic industries to apply to the Korea Aerospace Administration.” He added, “The director will be hired within four months, and those who are not recruited within four months will be appointed as the administrator again in the future.” “We will be able to recruit through ,” he added. The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to prepare an enforcement ordinance and about 4 related regulations, including personnel, organization, and business management for the operation of the organization, in accordance with the Special Act on Aerospace Administration. At first, only the tasks and projects of the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will be transferred to the affairs of the Korea Aerospace Administration, which are currently spread across all ministries, but the work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Defense will be transferred gradually in consultation with the Korea Aerospace Administration.

The Ministry of Science and ICT chose ‘to become one of the world’s top five space powers by 2045’ as the goal for opening the Korea Aerospace Administration. The standard for the five major powers is the space industry. The Ministry of Science and ICT expects that, based on the Aerospace Administration, it will be able to increase the global aerospace market share, which is currently only 5%, to 5% and create about 1 new jobs. Minister Lee said, “Becoming one of the five major powers means having an advantage in the industrial aspect.” He added, “Our government will foster more than 10 aerospace companies through the Aerospace Administration, create up to 50 quality jobs, and increase the global market share by up to 5%.” “We are aiming for expansion,” he said emphatically. He continued, “The establishment of the Aerospace Administration is the beginning of a great step toward becoming a global space power through the moon landing in 2,000 and the exploration of Mars in 50, the 10th anniversary of liberation,” and “The revitalization of the aerospace industry will become a new growth engine for the national economy.” I emphasized.

Even before the opening of the agency, there were concerns: “Will we be able to break through the narrow talent pool?”

However, some are raising concerns even before the opening of the Aerospace Administration. This is because an essential question has begun to arise as to whether our government has the capabilities to attract sufficient competitive talent through our country’s uniquely narrow talent pool. The government plans to first recruit experts in various fields, both at home and abroad, and actively promote the recruitment of private sector experts for fixed-term public servants, but it remains unknown whether the Aerospace Administration will be able to acquire such talent in the future. As the government does not have an environment in place to immediately recruit as many people as envisioned, it will have to continue to recruit talent even after the opening of the agency. However, there is some criticism that there is a possibility that ‘time wasting’ may eventually occur in this process. .

Another cause for concern is that work coordination between the Aerospace Administration and other government agencies has not yet been properly achieved. Minister Lee was asked on this day, ‘Can the Space Agency under the Ministry of Science and ICT coordinate the work of higher-level ministries such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Defense?’ “If there is no consultation with the Ministry of National Defense, there may be duplication of work,” he said. Due to the nature of the Government Organization Act, there is an opinion that there may be limitations in the ability of the Space Agency under the Ministry of Science and ICT to coordinate the policies of higher ministries such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Defense. The government plans to solve the problem by upgrading the National Space Committee to an organization directly under the President and appointing a private expert as vice-chairman, but it is not very pleasant that there is still room for conflicts between government agencies even after the opening of the agency.

The budget is also an ‘ankle’, and the ‘budget line’ is drying up under the sound fiscal policy

The extremely insufficient budget is also a hindrance. According to what is known, this year’s budget for the Korea Aerospace Administration, including the budget for transferring tasks to the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, is approximately 8,000 billion won. The Spanish Space Agency (AEE), launched in March last year, had a budget of 3 million euros (about 75 trillion won) in the first year, even though it had only 7 employees. Compared to the blueprint of the domestic space agency, which aims to recruit talent from each country, the budget of about 1 billion won is literally just enough to ‘maintain’ the agency. The reason the situation has become difficult is largely due to the fiscal austerity imposed by the Yoon Seok-yeol government. This trend is evident when looking at the trend of R&D budget cuts in the space industry. Initially, the Ministry of Science and ICT requested 8,000 billion won for international cooperation R&D in the space field in 2024, but it was reported that only a 26% (8,700 million won) cut in the budget was actually reflected. This is in contrast to the trend of NASA and Japan and Canada, which promote R&D, allocating more than 36 billion won to their international cooperation budget every year.

The R&D budget for ‘support for space verification of domestically produced device components’, which Minister Lee declared, was only reflected in half of the originally requested budget. The Ministry of Science and ICT requested a total of 28 billion won, but the actual amount reflected was only about 14 billion won. R&D to support space verification of domestically produced electrical and electronic devices and components is a project that supports space verification of domestically produced electrical and electronic devices and components, and the use of space components and space verification of semiconductor technology development results. Although it is one of the projects that Minister Lee has focused on since taking office in May last year, the fact that only half of it has been reflected clearly explains the current situation of our country.

The budget for talent development in the future space field was also cut. The Ministry of Science and ICT requested 5 million won for the ‘Korea Science and Space Youth Corps Support’ project, but the actual amount reflected was around 9 million won. As each field is being torn apart, the scientific community seems to be casting a question mark on the government’s intentions. It is pointed out that what is the use of opening the Aerospace Administration in a situation where the decline in capabilities is becoming visible due to all related budget cuts? As the budget needed to open the Aerospace Administration is insufficient in the first place, the complaints from the scientific community are growing louder. It is true that restructuring of the R&D budget is inevitable in accordance with the government’s sound fiscal policy, but some bold investment appears to be necessary in order for the government-promoted space agency to not end up with a simple show-off policy.