With Kim Jong-chul, former Director General of the unmanned aerial vehicle division at the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, reportedly the leading candidate to become the new president of Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), KAI is reviewing a plan to proceed with related procedures with the goal of installing the new president sometime next month.
According to the defense industry on the 25th, KAI is looking into convening a temporary board meeting soon to approve the appointment of a new president. It was initially expected to be discussed at the board meeting the same day, but it was confirmed that the item was not included on the agenda.
Inside KAI, some say a president should be appointed before the rollout ceremony of the first mass-produced KF-21 fighter jet, which is slated for late next month at the earliest. To do so, the new president must take office at the regular shareholders' meeting scheduled for the 26th of next month, and before that, the board must reconvene as soon as possible.
However, if procedures such as the board meeting to appoint the new president are delayed, the possibility cannot be ruled out of convening an additional extraordinary shareholders' meeting instead of the regular one.
Headwinds are expected as KAI's labor union is already pushing back against the new president. The union has long opposed appointing a former military officer and has argued that an executive with experience and expertise in the aerospace industry should be tapped. The leading candidate, former Director General Kim, is a graduate of the 31st class of the Air Force Academy and was an early member who, along with Lee Yong-chul, the head of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration in 2005, led the launch of the agency.