The National Assembly, already notorious for excessively partisan disputes and incapability, has again come under growing criticism for having failed to deal with seemingly significant agenda, such as the creation of a national space agency for example. The Yoon Suk Yeol administration earlier vowed to establish the new agency by the end of the year. Toward that end, the government formed a task force team, drafting a special bill for the “establishment and management of the space agency” in March.
Yet, the move has made little progress with the related bill still pending at a parliamentary sub-panel. The government and the opposition Democratic Party of Korea have been at odds over the details of the envisioned agency. For starters, the government has been seeking to place the new agency under the umbrella of the Ministry of Science and ICT, while the DPK prefers to place it under the direct control of the president. They remained poles apart on whether to endow the new agency with a research and development (R&D) function. The agenda seemed to surmount a hurdle as the government partially conceded to the DPK’s stance late last month.
But the Assembly has made no tangible efforts since then. Should things continue like this, the parliament will be unable to pass the bill until Nov. 9, the deadline for the ongoing Assembly session. This means the fate of the agency will face uncertainties with the bill expected to remain pending through the year. Worse still, the prospect of a passage early next year is slimmer, given the upcoming general elections slated for April 10.
Private organizations went all out to call for the passage of the relevant bill. On Nov. 1, the Korea Aerospace Industries Association (KAIA) and Korea Association for Space Technology Promotion (KASP) released a statement calling for the immediate establishment of the space agency. “The aerospace industry is the dream and hope for future generations. It should not be the objective of political and regional haggling. The agency should be set up promptly for the nation to catch up with the leading countries,” the statement read.
The political parties should attentively listen to the voices of related organizations. Any belated setup of the agency will cause adverse consequences on the domestic aerospace sector. Most of all, they will face growing setbacks in bids to promote technology exchanges with leading enterprises and institutes of advanced countries. This will also deal a fatal blow to the Yoon administration’s ambitious plan of becoming a global hub nation in the space sector.
Already equipped with prowess in semiconductors and automobiles, Korea needs to find a new growth engine in the aerospace area. Currently, more developed countries are rushing to sharpen their respective competitiveness in the aerospace sector, initiated by enterprises. For instance, SpaceX and Amazon of the United States are launching space rockets to the moon and Mars. A Japanese startup firm launched a lunar spacecraft and is developing a satellite with a mission to clear space debris. Space internet company Starlink already proved its efficiency during the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and is ready to land in Korea soon. To sum up, space has emerged as the main platform of future industries in the 21st century.
Now, the political parties are in a dispute over where to place the envisaged agency, either in Sacheon in South Gyeongsang Province or in Daejeon. The parties should refrain from deciding the issue from a political perspective, only mindful of votes ahead of the general elections. The lawmakers should first think about the future of the nation and the young. They should not commit the grave mistake of wasting golden time to advance the aerospace sector.