South Korea will add 3,851 central government positions next year, concentrated in public safety and livelihood areas including labor inspectors tasked with preventing serious industrial accidents and probation officers handling drug offenders.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said on the 1st that it had finalized the size of next year's increase in central government positions and reflected it in the government's 2027 budget proposal.
Public safety staffing will be reinforced first. The government will add 700 labor inspectors — 540 for industrial safety and 160 for labor standards — to prevent serious industrial accidents, along with 72 officers for probation and electronic monitoring of high-risk offenders and 17 staff supporting and caring for people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups. Labor inspectors, whose ranks began expanding with 1,000 added last year, will grow by a total of 3,050 in stages through 2028.
The government will also add 64 staff for probation of drug offenders and rehabilitation programs at correctional facilities, 26 for inspections and investigations of trade and foreign exchange transactions, and nine to trace and recover assets hidden overseas by taxpayers with very large unpaid tax bills. It will create a new post of state project manager to review and oversee projects that involve large budgets or closely affect daily life.
Staffing will also be strengthened in advanced industries such as artificial intelligence. The government will expand AI-dedicated units and personnel in areas including the defense industry and land and transport, and add 105 patent examiners in advanced technology fields to shorten review times. It will create a unit dedicated to youth policy and add 47 investigators at the Labor Relations Commission to respond to revisions to the trade union law.
Frontline policing will also grow. The police will add 215 officers, focused on drug and cyber crimes and investigations of criminal complaints. The Korea Coast Guard will add 354, including 222 crew members for newly commissioned vessels, along with staff for its central special rescue unit and maritime drug crime investigations.
Teaching positions will increase by a total of 1,139, including special education teachers, non-subject teachers such as counselors and school nurses, and national university professors to train personnel for essential regional health care and advanced technology fields.
The government is also streamlining its organization by redeploying staff from areas with reduced workloads or shrinking functions to areas of new demand. The final figure for next year's increase in central government positions will be confirmed in December this year after review by the National Assembly.
"We will secure momentum in artificial intelligence and advanced technology, which will drive future industries with an unassailable lead, while continuing to streamline government organization through ongoing organizational reviews and staff redeployment," Interior and Safety Minister Yoon Ho-jung said.
