The decision to revive the post of deputy prime minister in charge of economy reflects President-elect Park Geun-hye’s determination to bolster the power of finance minister to tide over the current economic difficulties facing the nation.

The post of deputy prime minister was scrapped during the Lee Myung-bak administration. The finance minister will concurrently serve as the deputy prime minister under the Park administration.

The personnel policy that the finance minister also takes on the post of deputy prime minister was initially introduced by then-President Park Chung-hee, the late father of Park Geun-hye, in 1964.

After a three-year abolishment in the late 1990s, the Kim Dae-jung administration renewed the personnel policy in 2001. It was again upheld between 2003 and 2008 during the Roh Moo-hyun administration, until being discarded when incumbent President Lee Myung-bak took office on Feb. 25.

Under the reorganization plan, the role of the Small and Medium Business Administration will also be strengthened to reflect the president-elect’s strong will for corporate reform to prop up the smaller companies.

The organization currently ranks below the ministry level, but had requested the incoming government to raise its status.

Notable in the reorganization is the establishment of a tentatively named Ministry of Future, Creation and Science to oversee information and communications technology, and science affairs.

A vice minister wholly responsible for the ICT sector was planned to be named within the ministry.

This indicates that the role of the Korea Communications Commission, which mainly dealt with telecom and broadcast regulations and ICT policy making, will be minimized.

The KCC will be responsible for regulation while the newly established ministry will take full charge of other ICT-related activities.

The transition committee said that the ICT sector was separated from the KCC and merged with science and technology since it cannot distance itself from future-oriented technology.

One surprising move was the revisit of a ministry exclusively handling marine and fishery issues. Agriculture and livestock issues will be placed under a separate ministry, the transition committee said.

Under Lee, those sectors had all been rounded up under the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

Additionally, Park’s transition team decided to separate the Trade Ministry from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and combine it with the Ministry of Knowledge Economy to form a new Ministry of Industry, Trade and Energy.

Research and development policies for information and technology and new growth engine development policies of the Ministry of Knowledge Economy will be transferred to the soon-to-be-established science ministry.

With the revival of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs is to be downsized to the Ministry of Construction and Transportation, undoing then-President-elect Lee Myung-bak’s transition team’s merge of the construction ministry and maritime ministry in 2008.

Minister Kwon Do-yup and other construction officials were largely opposed to the separation, whereas high-ranking members from the maritime division hoped to break free.

However, Park has pledged to revive the former maritime ministry, especially during her visits to the country’s southern port cities such as Busan.

By Kim Yon-se and Kim Ji-hyun
(kys@heraldcorp.com) (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)