By Kim Tong-hyung
Can creating a "super" ministry bringing together science, research and information technology help pull the country out of the quicksand of slow growth?
Incoming President Park Geun-hye certainly hopes so in announcing the tentatively named Ministry of Future Creative Science that will be one of the larger offices of her government.
Recent trends in bureaucracy require government organizations to be compact, quick and targeted in their purpose. But Park appears to be taking an old-school approach in designing a new ministry that will absorb the powers currently exercised separately by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) and Ministry of Knowledge Economy.
While incumbent President Lee Myung-bak had speechified about a small government five years ago, his creation of the KCC, Korea's first converged regulator for broadcasting and telecommunications, triggered concerns about combining too much power into a single body.
But judging by the plans unveiled by Park's presidential transition team, the KCC might look like a paper airplane to the future creative science ministry's spaceship. Park's strategists claim that an overall ministry for science and information technology is necessary to provide a strategic direction in the development of creative industries that at present do not exist.
However, critics are easily found in the Lee government, opposition political parties and business sector, denouncing the move as an outdated idea that could result in the over-centralization of power, inefficiency and more bureaucratic red tape.
Scientists predictably welcomed Park's blueprint as they had been complaining in the past few years that Lee's decision to squeeze the Ministry of Science and Technology into the Ministry of Education stunted the country's progress in basic science and research by diverting political support.
Much of the resistance comes from telecommunications carriers, Internet companies and policymakers from the KCC, who claim that Park's plan represents a snub for information technology.
According to the presidential transition team, the new ministry will act as a "control tower" for market development and research in science and creative industries in electronics, telecommunications and the Internet. The concentration of powers might give it an annual 20 trillion won research and development budget to work with.
Aside of its function as a regulator for telecommunications, radio and television, the KCC had also called the shots in designing and executing growth policies in these industries.
Yang Mun-seok, one of the KCC's five executive commissioners and probably the most outspoken on the panel, was livid about Park's plans to reduce the agency to a one-dimensional watchdog.
"This is a disaster for the information and communication technology industry. This is one of those quintessential decisions made by those at the desk upstairs with no feel for and knowledge of the floor," he said.
"Those in Park's transition team seem to lack an understanding about the convergence between telecommunications and broadcast media and how they are reshaping industries and traditional boundaries. It's a mistake to divide the powers to regulate and promote the industries: You need both the carrot and the stick to be effective in designing and executing policies. Park's picture leaves the KCC with just the stick."
An executive from a mobile-phone carrier, who preferred not to be named, wondered whether his company will face heavy-handed government interference as it will be answering to two separate agencies.
Yang Hwi-bu, president of the Korea Cable Television and Telecommunications Association, doubted whether it's a good idea to mix science and information technology.
"Information and communication technology could be compared to a sprinter. Science and research are more like a long-distance runner. I think it would have been a better idea to strengthen the KCC's function in technology industry growth policies," he said.
An official from the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies had a more positive reaction to a bulked-up ministry dedicated to science, but wondered whether the size will come at the cost of pace and purpose. He was also concerned about the possibility that the ministry would become predominantly focused on industry instead of basic science and research.
"It takes years and sometimes a decade for advancements in science to start making a difference commercially. It remains to be seen whether the ministry can be patient when it's up and running to adapt to the fast changes in information technology," he said.
Can creating a "super" ministry bringing together science, research and information technology help pull the country out of the quicksand of slow growth?
Incoming President Park Geun-hye certainly hopes so in announcing the tentatively named Ministry of Future Creative Science that will be one of the larger offices of her government.
Recent trends in bureaucracy require government organizations to be compact, quick and targeted in their purpose. But Park appears to be taking an old-school approach in designing a new ministry that will absorb the powers currently exercised separately by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) and Ministry of Knowledge Economy.
While incumbent President Lee Myung-bak had speechified about a small government five years ago, his creation of the KCC, Korea's first converged regulator for broadcasting and telecommunications, triggered concerns about combining too much power into a single body.
But judging by the plans unveiled by Park's presidential transition team, the KCC might look like a paper airplane to the future creative science ministry's spaceship. Park's strategists claim that an overall ministry for science and information technology is necessary to provide a strategic direction in the development of creative industries that at present do not exist.
However, critics are easily found in the Lee government, opposition political parties and business sector, denouncing the move as an outdated idea that could result in the over-centralization of power, inefficiency and more bureaucratic red tape.
Scientists predictably welcomed Park's blueprint as they had been complaining in the past few years that Lee's decision to squeeze the Ministry of Science and Technology into the Ministry of Education stunted the country's progress in basic science and research by diverting political support.
Much of the resistance comes from telecommunications carriers, Internet companies and policymakers from the KCC, who claim that Park's plan represents a snub for information technology.
According to the presidential transition team, the new ministry will act as a "control tower" for market development and research in science and creative industries in electronics, telecommunications and the Internet. The concentration of powers might give it an annual 20 trillion won research and development budget to work with.
Aside of its function as a regulator for telecommunications, radio and television, the KCC had also called the shots in designing and executing growth policies in these industries.
Yang Mun-seok, one of the KCC's five executive commissioners and probably the most outspoken on the panel, was livid about Park's plans to reduce the agency to a one-dimensional watchdog.
"This is a disaster for the information and communication technology industry. This is one of those quintessential decisions made by those at the desk upstairs with no feel for and knowledge of the floor," he said.
"Those in Park's transition team seem to lack an understanding about the convergence between telecommunications and broadcast media and how they are reshaping industries and traditional boundaries. It's a mistake to divide the powers to regulate and promote the industries: You need both the carrot and the stick to be effective in designing and executing policies. Park's picture leaves the KCC with just the stick."
An executive from a mobile-phone carrier, who preferred not to be named, wondered whether his company will face heavy-handed government interference as it will be answering to two separate agencies.
Yang Hwi-bu, president of the Korea Cable Television and Telecommunications Association, doubted whether it's a good idea to mix science and information technology.
"Information and communication technology could be compared to a sprinter. Science and research are more like a long-distance runner. I think it would have been a better idea to strengthen the KCC's function in technology industry growth policies," he said.
An official from the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies had a more positive reaction to a bulked-up ministry dedicated to science, but wondered whether the size will come at the cost of pace and purpose. He was also concerned about the possibility that the ministry would become predominantly focused on industry instead of basic science and research.
"It takes years and sometimes a decade for advancements in science to start making a difference commercially. It remains to be seen whether the ministry can be patient when it's up and running to adapt to the fast changes in information technology," he said.
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