The Ministry of Economy and Finance, which oversees the management of South Korea's state-owned assets, does not participate in the operating committee of the Korea Asset Management Corporation (KAMCO), the key execution body for state assets. The ministry had previously reported its "K-Asset" strategy in a briefing to the president, outlining plans to generate fiscal revenue by improving the efficiency of state asset management.
According to KAMCO on the 20th, the operating committee consists of nine members in total, including five ex-officio members and four appointed members. The KAMCO president, the Financial Services Commission's structural improvement policy officer, and the Ministry of Planning and Budget's budget coordination review officer participate, but no member from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which oversees state asset policy, is included. The KAMCO operating committee is a statutory decision-making body that deliberates and resolves on basic operating policies, annual business plans, budget formulation and revision, and settlement of accounts. It is the key committee that finalizes business direction and resource allocation.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance was excluded from the operating committee because the Ministry of Planning and Budget inherited the ex-officio seat previously held by the former Ministry of Economy and Finance (the old integrated ministry) during last year's government reorganization. When the former ministry was split into the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Planning and Budget, state asset affairs came under the Ministry of Economy and Finance, but under the Korea Asset Management Corporation Act, the "senior official of the Ministry of Economy and Finance" seat was changed to a "senior official of the Ministry of Planning and Budget."
The ex-officio composition of the KAMCO operating committee has historically been structured around KAMCO's main functions of financial and corporate restructuring and budget management. Before 2008, when the finance function and the budget planning function were separated, a senior official from the finance side, who handled financial affairs, and a senior official from the planning side, who handled the budget, each participated. Later, as the financial function was transferred to the Financial Services Commission and the planning function was integrated into the finance ministry, the structure changed so that the Financial Services Commission and the finance ministry each held one seat.
When the finance ministry was again split last year, the same function-succession approach was applied. The Financial Services Commission's ex-officio seat was maintained, and the existing finance ministry seat was inherited by the Ministry of Planning and Budget, which took over the budget function. However, no separate seat was established for the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which came to oversee KAMCO's state asset management and development affairs. The operating committee's composition, designed in the past around finance and restructuring functions, was maintained by convention and thus failed to reflect the current division of duties.
The problem is that the policy importance of state assets is growing ever greater. The government's plan is to shift the way state assets are managed from a focus on preservation, sale, and simple development to a value-creating approach.
KAMCO is the key institution that executes this on the ground. The Ministry of Economy and Finance entrusts KAMCO with the management and disposal of general state property, and KAMCO also carries out development of idle state land and aging public buildings. The ministry sets policy direction and KAMCO executes it, yet the ministry cannot participate in the very seat that decides KAMCO's overall business plan and budget.
Currently, the ministry and KAMCO continue to consult on individual state asset projects. However, there is no statutory channel for the ministry to directly present opinions as an ex-officio member at the operating committee. This has raised concerns that, as the use of state assets expands, the link between policy formulation and execution could weaken.
A government official said, "To strengthen the link between state asset policy and on-the-ground execution, the composition of the operating committee also needs to be reorganized to match the current division of duties."
