Establishment of the 'Trade Security Policy Officer' Position at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has established a new position, 'Trade Security Policy Officer,' to unify trade security tasks such as export permits for strategic materials and prevention of technology leakage.

Additionally, by expanding the organization and personnel, the ministry aims to strengthen the expertise of trade security functions and proactively respond to changes in the trade security environment centered on sensitive technologies.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that the "Partial Amendment to the Organization Regulations of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and Its Affiliated Agencies," which includes these changes, was approved at the Cabinet meeting on the 28th and will be implemented on the 6th of next month.

The Trade Security Policy Officer will be newly established as a regular organization within the Trade and Investment Office, consisting of about 30 members. Considering the characteristics of trade security tasks, three subordinate departments will be newly created: the Trade Security Policy Division, the Trade Security Review Division, and the Technology Security Division.

The Trade Security Policy Division will serve as the government's trade security control tower, overseeing and establishing trade security policies, and responding to domestic and international trade security issues such as Japan's export regulations. It will also handle tasks supporting strategic material export companies, including crackdowns on illegal exports, operation and education of the Authorized Trade Compliance Operator system.

The Trade Security Review Division will be responsible for export control tasks, including export permits for strategic materials, situation permits, and transit/transshipment permits. It will conduct in-depth reviews of suspicious transactions to ensure thorough export management. It will also handle the classification of strategic materials, issuance of import purpose certificates, and management of suspicious traders.

The Technology Security Division will be in charge of technology protection tasks, including management and export approval of existing national core technologies, strengthening protection against technology leakage, reviewing foreign investment in core technology-holding companies' M&A and security-related companies. It will also perform international cooperation tasks such as responding to international agreements related to trade security, including international export control regimes and international consultative bodies for protecting sensitive technologies.

Yoon Jong-in, Vice Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, said, "This organizational reform by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy unifies trade security-related functions that were previously dispersed across several departments such as strategic materials, technology development, and foreign investment, and strengthens functions by reallocating personnel. We expect it to enable a swift response to the rapidly changing global trade environment."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.