[Reporter’s Notebook] Government Supply Chain Organizations Become a 'Battleground for Control'

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Lee Junhyung] Government ministries are increasingly establishing dedicated supply chain organizations. Not only the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, but also the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Intelligence Service have rolled up their sleeves. As global supply chain risks grow, the government aims to strengthen industrial security by enhancing management of raw materials with high overseas dependency at the government level.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy fired the starting shot. It recently launched the Global Supply Chain Analysis Center, the first domestic supply chain analysis institution composed of about 30 experts. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to establish a Diplomatic Security Center next month with about 10 research personnel. It will serve as an internal think tank analyzing supply chain issues. The National Intelligence Service reported to the National Assembly last month its plan to create a new Industrial Technology Security Bureau dedicated to supply chain management. The Ministry of Economy and Finance, after consultations with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, also plans to launch an Economic Security Supply Chain Planning Group at the bureau level by the end of this month.

The problem is efficiency. Since supply chain organizations are being created haphazardly without coordination among ministries, overlapping duties between ministries inevitably reduce efficiency. For example, the Global Supply Chain Analysis Center and the Diplomatic Security Center are likely to have overlapping tasks in collecting and analyzing domestic and international supply chain trends.

If a ministry takes the lead on supply chain issues, it can justify expanding its organization and resolve personnel stagnation within the ministry, making it a win-win situation from their perspective. However, inter-ministerial power struggles to gain control are inevitable in this process. Already, regarding the planning group of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which intends to operate by dispatching personnel from related ministries, other ministries are voicing complaints such as "We do the work, but the Ministry of Economy and Finance takes the credit."

The essence is not about control. The key is to avoid repeating a ‘second waterless urea incident’. Racing to expand organizations opportunistically is not the role the public and companies expect from the government. Rather than indiscriminately creating related organizations in each ministry, it is most important to establish a comprehensive government-level organization that professionally controls the supply chain and responds swiftly to the current crisis.

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