The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is seeking to increase the number of its vice ministers from one to three.

A ministry official says the current one vice minister system is inadequate to deal with diverse diplomatic operations.

The official said that when the minister leaves for an overseas trip, the vice minister is solely responsible for all ministerial duties, which is too overwhelming for one vice minister to handle. The official also cited the examples of other countries with more than one vice minister-level foreign affairs official, including the United States, China, Russia, North Korea and Japan.

The ministry wants to have separate vice ministers for administrative, multilateral and bilateral affairs, and is holding discussions on the matter with government restructuring agencies.

The ministry has been pursuing a three-vice-minister system since last year, when the six-party nuclear talks were first held in August in Beijing.