Charter flights over weekends rushed eggs to market, helping stabilize prices ahead of Lunar New Year

AI-based real-time verification cut voucher item approval from up to three days to near-instant

All staff trained in proactive administration as agency pushes field-centered work culture

Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. uses weekend charter flights to make emergency egg deliveries. [Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp.]
Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. uses weekend charter flights to make emergency egg deliveries. [Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp.]

Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp., known as aT, has been spotlighting proactive administration cases that citizens can feel directly — including emergency egg deliveries via weekend charter flights and AI-powered verification for agri-food voucher items.

aT said Friday it held a special lecture for all staff on Thursday, aimed at lowering the burden employees feel around proactive administration and spreading a more field-centered approach to work.

The lecture was led by Jo Nam-sik, a dedicated proactive administration instructor at the Ministry of Personnel Management who pioneered Chungju's unconventional "B-grade" promotional style. Speaking on the theme "I Staked My Life on Being a Civil Servant," Jo introduced the concept of proactive administration and key examples, and shared his experience of directly proposing an amendment to the Rural Community Development Act that led to a policy change.

Earlier, in July, aT held its "2026 aT Proactive Administration Competition" to identify cases where active problem-solving had relieved public inconvenience. A total of 25 entries were submitted across two categories: outstanding proactive administration achievements and commendable challenge cases.

The top prize in the outstanding achievements category went to the Climate Change Response Division. The division was recognized for mobilizing charter flights over a weekend to make emergency egg deliveries after avian influenza outbreaks in importing countries halted egg imports, helping stabilize egg prices ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.

Second place went to the Public Food Division for improving the approval process for agri-food voucher items. The division replaced a system that had taken up to three days with AI-based real-time verification.

The Distribution Development Division and the Export Strategy Division tied for third. The former supported the rapid reconstruction of an APC destroyed in a wildfire by pushing through regulatory improvements, while the latter reopened export shipping routes disrupted by instability in the Middle East through a one-stop support system.

The commendable challenge category — which honors initiatives pursued without fear of failure — went to the Distribution Development Division for a project supporting direct transactions between farmers and buyers. The initiative was designed to help farmers secure sales channels and ease consumers' grocery costs.

aT said it plans to use the lecture and competition as a springboard to help staff practice proactive administration in their daily work, ensuring that small changes in the field translate into outcomes that citizens can tangibly feel.


adastra@heraldcorp.com