Korea’s planned space agency may fail to meet deadline for this year

The prospect of South Korean authorities setting up a space agency within this year is steadily diminishing due to ongoing disputes between the ruling and opposition parties over the creation of the aerospace administration. Both the government and experts view August as the crucial deadline to ascertain the feasibility of establishing the agency in the current year. To make the initiative viable, the special law pertaining to the agency must secure approval from the National Assembly by August at the latest.

“We see August as the deadline for its potential establishment within this year. Time is running out and the timeframe is quite tight,” said an anonymous legal expert specializing in space law told Maeil Business Newspaper on Monday.

“Even if the bill passes the National Assembly, it will take a minimum of four to five months for cabinet approval, setting up a new system, budget allocation, securing a headquarters, and recruiting personnel. As such, establishment within this year will be impossible once August passes,” said another expert.

In the era of “New Space,” where private companies are leading space development, the need for a national space agency to oversee the country’s space-related activities has been continuously emphasized. President Yoon Suk Yeol proposed the establishment of Aerospace Administration as one of his campaign pledges and officially confirmed its establishment earlier this year after his election.

In April, the Ministry of Science and ICT submitted a bill for the special law regarding the establishment and operation of a space agency to the National Assembly, with the goal of opening the institution in December. The bill was set to be reviewed in June, with enforcement rules and a headquarters office planned for November. However, the bill is still pending in the National Assembly’s standing committee.

On Wednesday, Representative Chang Je-won of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) who serves as the head of the standing committee stated his intention to convene a full committee meeting by exercising his authority as the chairman. Nevertheless, due to the opposition party’s majority in the committee and the presence of four other space agency-related bills, discussions between the ruling and opposition parties are anticipated to be protracted, presenting challenges for parliamentary progress.

Despite the potential obstacles, the ministry has expressed its commitment to exerting maximum effort to achieve the establishment of the space agency within this year.