Priority Increase of 4,896 National Public Officials in Probation, Kindergarten, and COVID-19 Livelihood Sectors

Increase of 3,613 Teachers Including Public Kindergarten Teachers and Expansion of Special Schools and Classes
188 Additional Personnel to Suppress Recidivism in Drug Abuse, Domestic Violence, Child Abuse, Drunk Driving, and Sexual Violence
Property Concealment Methods Becoming More Sophisticated... Strengthening On-site Personnel for Property Tracking Investigation, Pursuit, and Recovery

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The government will prioritize increasing the number of 4,896 national public officials, including those in the fields of public safety and health, as well as kindergarten, special, and extracurricular teachers. This increase in public officials focuses on areas related to public livelihood, such as COVID-19 and infectious disease response personnel reflecting the organizational revisions of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Ministry of the Interior and Safety, and Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, as well as probation supervision, delinquency response, and fine dust management.

According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety on the 23rd, the revision ordinance for the organizational structure of 29 ministries to increase public officials was approved at the Cabinet meeting that day. The number of personnel increased in central government ministries, reflected in this year’s budget after passing through the National Assembly last year, is 8,345, which is a 26.5% (3,014) decrease compared to 11,359 in 2020, and 4,876 of these are included in this organizational revision.

The government plans to deploy 95.7% of the increased personnel in the first quarter to frontline sites and continue to increase personnel to improve public safety and quality of life during national crises, such as supporting field personnel for COVID-19 response. The total number of increased personnel in the first quarter is 6,176, including 1,300 scheduled to be reflected in the organizational structure in March. The government plans to sequentially increase personnel by 285 in the second quarter and 1,884 in the third quarter.

The fields where the increased public officials will be assigned include 861 personnel in public safety and health sectors such as the Coast Guard, probation electronic supervision, and African Swine Fever (ASF) quarantine, and 3,613 teachers including kindergarten, special, and extracurricular teachers. Additionally, 215 personnel will be added to economic sectors such as malicious delinquency response, real estate transaction tax evasion analysis, and agricultural product export support, and 187 personnel will be added to sectors enhancing public convenience, such as establishing new tax offices and resolving blind spots in veterans’ services.

Specifically, as public anxiety about community-based crimes such as drugs, domestic violence, child abuse, drunk driving, and sexual violence is increasing, the government plans to increase probation field personnel, currently about 1,300, by 14% (188 personnel) to manage offenders more thoroughly. Furthermore, as methods of hiding assets become increasingly sophisticated, the National Tax Service will reinforce 59 field personnel for delinquency response targeting high-value tax delinquents and 13 analysis personnel to eradicate tax evasion in real estate transactions, aiming to realize fair tax base management and tax equity through asset tracking, investigation, and recovery.

The 3,613 increased teachers focus on meeting policy demands to raise the ratio of children in public kindergartens and new demands from the establishment of special schools. To raise the public kindergarten enrollment rate to 40% this year, the government will increase kindergarten teachers by 728 and additionally assign 1,214 special teachers due to the establishment of eight new special schools and the addition of 678 special classes.

Due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, 1,774 extracurricular teachers in health, nutrition, counseling, and other areas below legal standards will also be increased. However, 228 regular subject teachers for elementary and secondary schools will be reduced in accordance with the mid- to long-term teacher supply and demand plan reflecting the declining school-age population.

Regarding the Coast Guard, a total of 516 personnel will be increased, including 254 replacement police officers due to the phased reduction of conscripted police. These mainly include 82 shift personnel for the maritime traffic control center and situation room, 78 personnel for marine pollution and water leisure safety management, and 83 personnel for facility and equipment operation such as shipbuilding and equipment repair. The 254 replacement conscripted police officers will be assigned as shift personnel for small vessel operations.

Additionally, the government will deploy personnel reflecting the organizational revisions of key ministries for COVID-19 and infectious disease response. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has established a temporary organization, the ‘New Infectious Disease Vaccine Evaluation Division,’ for national approval of COVID-19 vaccines. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety has established the ‘Infectious Disease Response Division’ for timely response to new infectious diseases. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs will strengthen personnel responding to zoonotic infectious diseases, including African Swine Fever (ASF).

Han Chang-seop, Director of Government Innovation and Organization at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, said, “Most of the national public officials increased this year are personnel necessary to protect the lives and safety of the people and improve their quality of life. We will strengthen performance management to ensure that the increase in public officials leads to improved public services, and before increasing personnel, we will also promote efforts to optimize government organization and personnel by reallocating personnel from declining functions to areas with increasing administrative demand.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.