Korea Aerospace Industries, the country's sole aircraft manufacturer, has named a former audit and inspection official its new chief executive after its former head stepped down in July over a corruption scandal.

KAI held a board meeting on Wednesday to appoint Kim Jo-won, who worked at the Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea for 20 years, the new chief of the aircraft company, a company spokesman said. 

Kim, 61, began his three-year term as CEO on Thursday and vowed to make utmost efforts to keep the company's business unscathed from the scandal, particularly in exporting Korean-made aircraft, he said.

The company will launch a "management innovation" task force team for transparency and trustworthiness next month and explore new growth drivers to achieve an ambitious sales target of 20 trillion won (US$17.7 billion) by 2030, he said.

KAI posted sales of 2.95 trillion won in 2016 and 1.13 trillion won in the January-June period this year.

His appointment comes weeks after former president Ha Seong-yong, 66, was indicted on charges of his involvement in accounting fraud, embezzlement and bribery. (Yonhap)