The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) will significantly strengthen its resource security and artificial intelligence policy functions amid intensifying global AI and resource competition. The ministry also decided to establish a new Korea-U.S. Trade Cooperation Division to oversee initiatives including the $200 billion investment package in the United States.
MOTIE announced Wednesday that a partial amendment to the ministry's organizational decree was approved at a Cabinet meeting and will take effect on January 30. This reorganization is the largest since the ministry was established in 2013, with one new bureau, one new directorate, and four new divisions being created.
Specifically, the government will establish the Industry and Resource Security Bureau to consolidate security-related functions currently scattered across the ministry. The new bureau will integrate economic and industrial security functions from the Resource Industry Policy Bureau under the vice minister, the Industrial Supply Chain Policy Bureau under the Industrial Policy Office, and the Trade Security Policy Bureau under the Trade and Investment Office. The Industry and Resource Security Bureau will serve as a control tower overseeing and coordinating economic security policies within the ministry in response to global supply chain uncertainties, including rare earth export controls stemming from the U.S.-China technology rivalry.
The ministry will also significantly reinforce its manufacturing AI transformation capabilities. A new Industrial AI Policy Directorate will be established to oversee manufacturing AI transformation policies, with subordinate divisions including the Industrial AI Policy Division and Manufacturing AI Transformation Cooperation Division. The existing Machinery, Robotics, and Manufacturing Policy Division and Bio-Convergence Industry Division will be reorganized into the AI Machinery and Robotics Division and AI Bio-Convergence Division, respectively, by integrating AI functions.
Additionally, the government will establish the Korea-U.S. Trade Cooperation Division, separate from the existing Americas Trade Division, to strengthen trade functions with the United States. The Industry-Energy Cooperation Division and Resource Safety Team will be newly created under the Industrial Policy Directorate and Resource Industry Policy Directorate, respectively. The Industry-Energy Cooperation Division will handle issues such as the emissions trading system for the industrial sector in response to the separation of energy functions within the ministry. The Advanced Civil-Military Cooperation Division, which previously handled defense exports and defense component ecosystem strengthening policies, will become a permanent organization, while the Chemical Industry Team responsible for petrochemical policies will be expanded into the Chemical Industry Division.
The ministry will also rename and relocate organizations to align with the changing domestic and international environment. All FTA-related organizations and functions, including the FTA Negotiation Directorate and FTA Negotiation Coordination Division, will be renamed to "Trade Agreement," and regional growth policies previously under the Industrial Infrastructure Office will be transferred to the senior-level Industrial Policy Office. Nuclear power export functions, which had been temporarily placed directly under the vice minister, will be relocated under the Trade and Investment Office. The ministry will also operate a new Industrial Regulatory Innovation Division for the first time by consolidating dispersed regulatory functions.
"Based on our newly reorganized organizational capabilities, the ministry will take a leading role in ensuring our industries and companies gain an edge in global competition by successfully implementing key national priorities including regional growth and corporate vitality," Trade Minister Kim Jung-kwan said.
