Kim Tae-seung was inaugurated as the 12th president of Korea Railroad Corporation (Korail) at a ceremony held at the company's Daejeon headquarters on Monday.
In his inaugural address, Kim outlined priorities for railway safety, which he called a public means of guaranteeing citizens' mobility rights. He called for expanded investment in advanced safety technologies, the introduction of scientific safety management systems using artificial intelligence and robots, and a comprehensive redesign of systems and work environments to eliminate industrial accidents.
"I will make it a top priority to establish a safety culture where safe operations take precedence over punctual operations, where severity of accidents matters more than frequency, and where identifying causes comes before assigning blame," Kim said. "All members of the organization must internalize this through practice."
On the integration of high-speed rail services, Kim pledged to "complete the high-speed rail integration promptly and return the social benefits to the public."
Kim also committed to expanding seat capacity on major routes and establishing a unified reservation system. "We will ensure that citizens can experience improved railway services in their daily lives," he said. "We will also proceed without setbacks to complete organizational integration as one team alongside the rail integration."
Emphasizing the importance of expanding rail transport services to establish a sustainable management foundation, Kim called for building "a railway-based national trunk transportation network through connected transport networks linking high-speed rail, conventional rail, and regional buses."
"Let us diligently fill the gaps in service so that citizens can naturally choose rail as a low-carbon, eco-friendly mode of transportation in their daily lives," Kim said. "Let us also participate in Korea's energy policy in ways that only railways can."
Kim also pledged to treat labor unions as management partners and shift toward a mutually beneficial structure for discussing key issues. He added that the company would continue preparations for the eventual reconnection of inter-Korean railways.