The head of the shipbuilding and offshore plant division (Grade 4) at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, who planned the $150 billion Korea-U.S. shipbuilding investment cooperation project, the MASGA (Make American Shipbuilding Great Again) initiative, was rapidly promoted to the manufacturing industry policy Director General (Grade 2 bureau chief).
Minister Kim Jung-kwan of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) said on the 27th on Facebook, "I recommended (to the president) an exceptional promotion for Director Kim Eui-jung from a deputy director level straight to senior civil servant as manufacturing industry policy director, without passing through the deputy director level, for planning and driving the MASGA project, and the president, who holds appointment authority, appointed him."
He added, "For a position not filled through an open recruitment process, this is unprecedented in the history of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI), and extremely rare within the government." Director Kim passed the 47th higher civil service exam and was promoted to Grade 4 section chief in June 2014. Since Nov. 2023, Kim has served as the director of the shipbuilding and offshore plant division.
Under conventional government personnel practices, Director Kim would have had to be promoted to deputy director (Grade 3) before moving up to Director General, but was rapidly promoted after receiving a favorable evaluation for job performance. Director Kim planned the shipbuilding cooperation project "MASGA," worth tens of billions of dollars, which the government first proposed during tariff negotiations with the United States last year. In recognition of this achievement, Director Kim also received the national order "Order of Service Merit (Geunjeong Medal)."
The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) also appointed 23 new directors. Minister Kim said, "In this round of appointments, we advanced the years-in-grade for director promotions by four to five years compared with the past." A representative case is selecting Section Chief Han Ju-hyeon (55th higher civil service exam) as gas industry director. Director Han became a director in less than two years after being promoted to section chief. In addition, Song Young-sang, who joined through the Grade 7 open competitive exam, was appointed director of the industrial technology policy division, which oversees 6 trillion won in annual research and development (R&D) investment and technology policy.