May 08, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Yoo Young-min has been formally appointed as the head of the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, entering the difficult job of restoring the organization’s tainted governance leadership from the scandal-ridden previous government, finding the country’s next growth engines and fixing chronic conflicts such as telecommunication cost cuts.

President Moon Jae-in approved the appointment of the new minister of science, ICT and future planning on July 11.

Yoo, who served as an executive of  LG Electronics, vice president of LG CNS and chief operating officer of Posco ICT, has replaced Choi Yang-hee, who led the ICT ministry since July of 2014 under the former president Park Geun-hye.

The new minister faces challenges to boost the ICT ministry discouraged due to the political scandal involving the former president and to address conflicts with local telecom carriers regarding lowering telecommunications bills.

Experts said Yoo, first of all, needs to show charisma to inspire his employees, whose morale declined since the ministry, a key organization of Park’s “creative economy,” was embroiled in the political scandal. The ministry has lost driving forces to push new policies over the past months amid growing speculations that the ministry might be dismantled under the new government. 

Outside the ministry, he will also have to address conflicts with local telecom operators, which began with Moon Jae-in government’s plan to reduce the burden of mobile costs.

Early this month, the ICT Ministry proposed bills including shaving off the 11,000 won (US$9) monthly base rate for senior citizens aged 65 or above and expanding the current optional 20 percent discount for monthly bills to 25 percent for purchasers of new phones.

However, the proposals caused massive protests from the carriers, claiming the cost they should bear would exceed their operating profits and even consider filing an administrative litigation.

Following the growing protests from the firms, Yoo said, “I will address the issue through conversation with telecom operators by laying out the cost of telecommunications bills.”

Apart from the mobile bill cuts, the ministry should also prepare for a long-term master plan for the nation’s future technologies, including 5G network which Korea will showcase for the first time next year.

Yoo needs to navigate the thorny issues such as cuts on mobile bills with the mobile carriers and other tech companies to cooperate on future technologies.

“5G is becoming increasingly important in the ‘fourth industrial revolution’ era as it is based on future technologies, such as Internet of Things, big data and self-driving cars,” said Kim Deuk-won, a researcher specializing in 5G network at Korea Information Society Development Institute.

“However, if telecom companies lack investment resources (by, for instance, spending on cuts on mobile bills), they may make an investment on 5G only for profitability rather than for public needs -- building 5G network evenly nationwide,” Kim added.

The plans Yoo proposed for the fourth industrial revolution include building key infrastructure for 5G, IoT and big data, focus on research and development on artificial intelligence and the expansion of ICT convergence with other industries.

By Shin Ji-hye/The Korea Herald (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)