The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy holds a "proactive administration support briefing" at the Government Sejong Complex on Wednesday, with more than 200 ministry employees in attendance. [Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy]
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy holds a "proactive administration support briefing" at the Government Sejong Complex on Wednesday, with more than 200 ministry employees in attendance. [Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy]

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held a "proactive administration support briefing" at the Government Sejong Complex on Wednesday, drawing more than 200 ministry employees.

The session was designed to help civil servants carry out their duties with conviction, free from fear of audits. The ministry has repeatedly faced scrutiny from the Board of Audit and Inspection with each change of government, including over the early shutdown of the Wolsong Unit 1 nuclear power plant.

Jung Sang-woo, secretary general of the Board of Audit and Inspection, said the board would "actively support efforts to create an environment where civil servants can work with conviction without worrying about audits."

Park Jeong-cheol, the board's director for proactive administration oversight and the session's main speaker, outlined plans to reform audit operations — including the creation of a new innovation-support audit category, the abolition of audits targeting policy decisions, and the expansion of eligibility for pre-consultation requests along with broader application of proactive-administration immunity. He urged civil servants to embrace a more proactive approach to their work.

In line with those efforts, the ministry convened its proactive administration committee this year and approved measures including a recommendation to change the arbitration venue for settlement disputes among nuclear power public enterprises in February, and a plan to streamline the nuclear power export framework in May.


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