It has been confirmed that Nam Seok (남석), director-general of the Personal Information Protection Commission's Investigation and Coordination Bureau, will be appointed telecommunications policy chief at the Ministry of Science and ICT, a post that had been vacant for 6 months.

Industry and government officials said on May 13 that Nam will be appointed to the post effective May 14.

The MSIT telecommunications policy chief post has remained vacant for 6 months since October last year, after former telecommunications policy chief Lee Do-gyu (이도규) was promoted to head of the Information and Communications Policy Office.

The telecommunications policy chief, a director-general level position, oversees the Telecommunications Policy Planning Division, the Telecommunications Competition Policy Division, the Telecommunications User System Division and the Telecommunications Resources Policy Division. The post coordinates the drafting of telecommunications policy for national key services, including telecoms business licensing, legal and regulatory improvements, network usage fees and the terms of telecoms tariff plans.

With the appointment of the next telecommunications policy chief delayed, the industry pointed to difficulties in smoothly drawing up and 추진 related policies. A previously controversial plan to verify a subscriber's identity using facial recognition when activating a mobile phone line also fell under the responsibilities of the telecommunications policy chief. The new appointment is expected to speed up the MSIT's work in establishing and 추진 telecommunications policy.

Nam, born in 1974, graduated from Seoul National University's Department of Social Education and completed graduate studies in public administration at the same university. He served as head of the MSIT Telecommunications User System Division in 2019, then worked as director of planning and budget, and has served as director-general of the Personal Information Protection Commission's Investigation and Coordination Bureau since February 2023.