Justice, Gender Equality Ministries to Move to Sejong Next Year

The South Korean government is accelerating the relocation of central administrative agencies out of the capital region under a principle of keeping as few of them in the Seoul area as possible. The Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family will move to Sejong in the first half of next year, with the Prosecution Service, the National Police Agency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Unification to follow in stages. The Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service may still be included on the list to be finalized in the fourth quarter.

Prime Minister Han Seong-sook reaffirmed the principle at a press conference on the 3rd at the Government Complex Seoul on the relocation of administrative and public institutions and the overhaul of public institution functions, saying the government will finalize a detailed relocation plan during the fourth quarter of this year.

The government plans to start with agencies that are large or that would have the greatest impact on the regions receiving them. "We will carry out procedures such as amending the Multifunctional Administrative City Act without delay and move agencies with a large workforce or a strong relocation effect first, starting in the first half of next year with the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family," Interior and Safety Minister Yoon Ho-jung said. To that end, the government will begin revising the act, which currently exempts some central administrative agencies from relocation.

Not all agencies will move at once. The government plans a phased relocation designed to minimize administrative disruption, taking into account each agency's working conditions and state of preparation. "Agencies that require their own separate buildings, such as the Prosecution Service — including the planned Public Prosecution Office and Serious Crimes Investigation Agency — and the National Police Agency, will be relocated after new buildings are constructed," Yoon said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Unification are also expected to be included. "We will consider moving them in line with dates such as 2030, when the presidential office relocates, or 2033, when the National Assembly's Sejong branch opens," Yoon said.

No specific relocation plan was disclosed for the FSC and the FSS, but neither has been ruled out. Asked why the FSC, long cited as a likely candidate for relocation, was left out of the announcement, Yoon said, "The fact that it is not in today's announcement does not mean it is excluded," adding that the government "will finalize and publish the relocation plan and the list of agencies during the fourth quarter of this year."

The government is also weighing ways to strengthen industrial clustering in the regions by relocating financial agencies. Yoon cited as models the way financial institutions gathered around Jeonju after the National Pension Service's investment management arm moved to the city in North Jeolla Province, as well as the medical industry cluster in Wonju, saying the government "will further strengthen and build on such changes."

Resistance to the policy is mounting in the financial sector. The Korean Financial Industry Union held a press conference at the Bank Hall in Seoul's Jung District that day, arguing that "the government itself is trying to undermine the competitiveness of Seoul, which has risen to become the world's eighth-largest financial center."

The union plans to hold a general strike rally in Gwanghwamun in central Seoul on the 4th. Based on the union's advance tally, about 20,000 people are expected to attend, with 42 affiliated chapters taking part, including those at state-run banks, commercial banks and mutual credit institutions.

"Having financial companies, financial policy and supervisory agencies and skilled professionals close together, sharing information and making quick decisions, is exactly what clustering and competitiveness mean," union chairman Yoon Suk-gu said. "If the FSC and the FSS move to the provinces, financial companies will have to travel to reach them, and the resulting costs will be passed on to the companies."

The government will also prepare support measures to improve living conditions for civil servants who relocate. It is considering providing greater support the farther the move and the earlier it takes place.

Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Kim Yoon-duck said the second relocation plan, originally scheduled for announcement in October or November, was pushed back to the fourth quarter because "public discussion and communication with local governments and labor unions were needed, and with the parliamentary audit of government agencies scheduled in the meantime, we recognized that further delay was unavoidable."