The Special Act on the Korea Aerospace Agency, the 'Korean NASA,' Passes First Hurdle

National Assembly Science and ICT Committee Approves Special Act on Space Aviation Agency
Likely to Be Processed in Plenary Session on the 9th Following Bipartisan Agreement

The Yoon Suk-yeol administration's 'Space Aviation Agency Special Act,' pursued as a national agenda, has cleared its first hurdle.

On the morning of the 8th, the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Broadcasting and Communications Committee held a plenary meeting and approved the 'Special Act on the Establishment and Operation of the Space Aviation Agency' and the 'Partial Amendment to the Space Development Promotion Act,' among others.

Jang Je-won, Chairman of the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee, is striking the gavel at the plenary meeting of the committee held at the National Assembly on the morning of the 8th. At the meeting, the Special Act on the Space and Aviation Agency, which the Yoon Seok-yeol administration has been promoting as a national agenda, passed the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Broadcasting and Communications Committee.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Space Aviation Agency Special Act, aimed at creating a Korean version of NASA, is expected to be finalized at the plenary session on the 9th after passing through the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. On the 6th, the ruling and opposition parties agreed to pass the Space Aviation Agency Special Act on the 9th during a '2+2 consultative body' meeting involving the policy chiefs and senior floor leaders of both parties.

The core of the Space Aviation Agency Special Act is to establish the Space Aviation Agency under the Ministry of Science and ICT. The agency will be responsible for cross-ministerial policy formulation, industry promotion, and international cooperation in the space aviation sector. It will launch with a workforce of up to 300 personnel and plans to expand its size through talent recruitment.

The government had previously submitted the related special act to the National Assembly in April last year, but it was stalled for a long time due to disagreements between the ruling and opposition parties. In particular, conflicts arose over the transfer of existing research institutions such as the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI). Accordingly, it was coordinated to reflect the Democratic Party's demand that 'KARI and KASI be affiliated with the Space Aviation Agency' in the special act.

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