S.Korea to lure global talent with high pay for space agency

South Korea is set to attract global talent with high salaries for a planned government space agency as the country aims to boost long-term growth in Asia’s fourth-largest economy through the development of the aerospace industry.

The country may offer an annual salary of more than 1 billion won ($778,271), more than quadruple President Yoon Suk-yeol’s pay of 245 million won, to a global top-tier aerospace expert, who will lead the agency, according to government sources on Thursday.

“The first chief of the agency is so symbolic that he/she will be recorded in South Korea’s aerospace development history,” said an official of the Ministry of Science and ICT. “It is even possible to scout aerospace experts from other countries such as the US.”

In November last year, Yoon unveiled the country’s ambition to land on the moon and start mining resources there in 2032, as well as set down on Mars in 2045.

NO SALARY CAP

The government also plans not to cap the salaries of employees for the agency as it is hard to attract talented aerospace engineers with doctoral degrees, who get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, with civil servant salaries.

Currently, the country prevents pay for specially hired employees at government organizations regardless of their expertise from exceeding 1.5 times the wages of civil servants of the same ranks.

“We persuaded the finance ministry and the personnel management ministry that it is difficult to hire researchers who are riding high with the current wages of civil servants,” said a source at a team that prepares for the establishment of the agency.

The team consists of officials from the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Personnel Management, the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, as well as the Ministry of Government Legislation.

The agency will be able to employ more external experts than other government bodies. Currently, the country restricts the number of external professionals at a government organization from exceeding 20% of the total employees.

The team plans to prepare a draft for special bills for the space agency including a measure to allow the body to recruit more than half of the staff among external experts to make it an organization led by aerospace specialists.

AGILE ORGANIZATION

The agency’s head, a vice minister-level position to be appointed by Yoon, is set to have the autonomy on the organization’s structure to accomplish various tasks with limited human resources, according to the team.

Some ministries, however, opposed the team’s plans. The interior and personnel ministries showed disapproval, saying the chief would get excessive authority over the organization and budget.

The industry ministry was concerned that the agency will handle the research and development of too many sectors related to aerospace industry development.

“We understand the positions of each ministry. We aim to complete a draft for the special laws agreed by all ministries after sufficient internal discussions and establish the space agency within this year,” said another source of the team.

Write to Jin-Won Kim at jin1@hankyung.com

Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.