South Korea will sharply expand the number of officials dedicated to personal data protection across central government agencies, part of an effort to strengthen the public sector's privacy safeguards.
The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety said the Cabinet approved a multi-ministry organizational revision on the 25th to secure dedicated privacy staff at central government bodies.
Under the plan, 54 dedicated privacy officers will be assigned across 31 central administrative agencies. Of these, 39 are newly created positions and 15 are reassignments of existing staff.
Calls to strengthen privacy protections in the public sector have grown as hacking attacks and data breaches targeting public institutions have occurred in succession. In line with a "plan to shift to a prevention-focused personal data management system" reported to the Cabinet in May, the PIPC has been moving away from responding after incidents occur toward a system that inspects and manages the risk of privacy breaches in advance.
To that end, the PIPC in February conducted a full survey of privacy staffing at 653 public-sector organizations, including central administrative agencies, local governments, public institutions and provincial education offices, to assess the current state. The survey found that public institutions had an average of 1.9 privacy staff, of whom just 0.7 per institution worked exclusively on privacy protection without other duties.
Based on those findings, the PIPC in June submitted a multi-ministry organizational request to secure dedicated privacy staff. The request then passed review by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Planning and Budget in July and a vice-ministers' meeting on August 21, before the Cabinet gave final approval to the added central government positions on the 25th.
The move marks the first government-wide expansion of dedicated privacy staff in 11 years, and the first since the PIPC was launched in 2020. Through the revision, the average number of dedicated privacy officers at central agencies roughly doubled, from 1.1 to 2.1.
The revision is notable for allocating staff differently according to each agency's scale of data processing and sensitivity. Agencies that handle large volumes of personal data or hold substantial amounts of sensitive information — including the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Justice, the National Police Agency and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency — received concentrated reinforcements. New dedicated staff were also assigned to 14 agencies that previously had none, such as the Overseas Koreans Agency and the Korea Heritage Service, reducing blind spots in privacy protection.
The PIPC is also pursuing staff expansions in other parts of the public sector, including local governments, public institutions and education offices. It plans to continue conducting field inspections in the public sector and improving conditions for privacy staff, in order to more firmly establish the public sector's privacy protection framework.
"I hope this staffing increase will serve as a turning point for each ministry to build a system in which it takes responsibility for inspecting and managing privacy in its own field," PIPC Chairperson Song Kyoung-hee said. "The PIPC will continue to strengthen the public sector's privacy protection capabilities so that citizens can enjoy public services with peace of mind."
