Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.
Veteran science bureaucrat to lead Korea’s space agency
Then-First Vice Minister of Science and ICT Oh Tae-seok gives a briefing on the third launch of the Nuri rocket at the press room of the Naro Space Center in Goheung County, South Jeolla Province, May 24, 2023. Courtesy of the Ministry of Science and ICT
By Anna J. Park
The Lee Jae Myung administration appointed Oh Tae-seok, president of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Planning and Evaluation (KISTEP), as the new head of the Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA).
Announcing the appointment on Monday, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung highlighted Oh’s three decades of experience as an administrator, noting that he has worked across key areas of national science and technology policy.
Oh is widely regarded as possessing deep expertise not only in aerospace technology and industry but also in the organizational structure and operations of the space agency.
He was particularly commended for his leadership as first vice minister of science and ICT, when he served as chair of the launch management committee for the Nuri space rocket and successfully oversaw its launch in 2023.
“Based on his strong expertise in science and technology policy, Oh Tae-seok will lead the Republic of Korea toward becoming a global aerospace power,” Kang said.
Born in 1968 in Sunchang, North Jeolla Province, Oh earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Seoul National University and later a master’s degree in technology management from the University of Sussex in England. He entered government service in 1991 through the 35th civil service examination, and previously served as a senior administrative officer in the presidential office during the Park Geun-hye administration. Under the Yoon Suk Yeol government, he held the post of first vice minister of science and ICT.