The Minister Will Take Over as Chairman of the Defense Space Development Committee

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] From now on, the Minister of National Defense will directly serve as the chairman of the ‘Defense Space Development Committee.’ Until now, the vice minister had chaired the committee, but this change is interpreted as an effort to strengthen the promotion of defense space capabilities development.

On the 3rd, the Ministry of National Defense announced that it has partially revised the ‘Defense Space Development Committee Directive’ with this content, which has been in effect since the 31st of last month.

According to the revised directive, the chairman of the Defense Space Development Committee is elevated from the vice minister to the minister of National Defense. Committee members have also been elevated from department heads of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and each military branch and related agencies to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Chiefs of Staff of each military branch, and heads of agencies, respectively. Additionally, the working-level chairman under the Defense Space Development Committee has changed from the Director of North Korea Policy at the Ministry of National Defense to the Director of Defense Policy, and members have been upgraded from section chiefs to department heads within military (agencies).

Furthermore, the scope of deliberation and resolution has been expanded to allow the Defense Space Development Committee to discuss the ‘Defense Space Strategy’ and the ‘Defense Space Capability Development Implementation Plan,’ among other matters.

Last November, with the revision and enforcement of the ‘Space Development Promotion Act,’ the chairmanship of the National Space Committee was elevated from the Minister of Science and ICT to under the Prime Minister. Under the National Space Committee, there is the Security Space Development Working Committee, but since it deliberates on matters that inevitably require security for defense purposes, the vice minister of National Defense and the deputy director of the National Intelligence Service serve as co-chairmen.

A military official explained, "The status of the Defense Space Development Committee was elevated to enhance execution capability while promoting defense space capability development based on jointness under the leadership of the Ministry of National Defense."

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