Ryu Geun-gwan, Commissioner: "Yoon Administration Needs Dedicated Team for Platform Consolidating National Statistics in One Place"

Opinions Raised Inside and Outside the Prime Minister's Office on Upgrading 'Statistics Korea' to 'Statistics Agency'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Kim Hyewon] There is a view that a dedicated organization is needed to gather statistical data in one place for the platform government administration envisioned by President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol. It is suggested to elevate the Korea National Statistical Office to the Statistical Agency and place it under the Prime Minister's Office in the new government.

On the 25th, Ryu Geun-gwan, Commissioner of the Korea National Statistical Office, stated in the keynote speech at the special seminar titled "Reorganization and Operational Tasks of the New Government" jointly hosted by the Korean Society of Organization and the Korean Society for Public Administration Reform, "A dedicated organization for a statistical data platform for objective policy formulation and evaluation must be established."

Under the current decentralized national statistics system, the general authority for overall government coordination and adjustment lies with the Prime Minister's Office. However, the actual authority to formulate policies, execute budgets, and measure outcomes resides with each ministry holding statistical data, making it impossible to guarantee the objectivity of government administration evaluation.

Commissioner Ryu pointed out, "Although the demand for 'linkage' of statistical data for smooth government administration is increasing, even comprehensive pension statistics cannot be gathered into a single platform in our country," adding, "Inefficiencies occur due to the absence of national statistical data governance overseeing all sectors." He further explained, "To find out whether Korea's elderly population is the poorest among OECD countries, pension-related data including national pension, basic, occupational, retirement, individual, housing, and farmland pensions must be gathered, but since statistical authority is scattered across various ministries, collaboration is difficult."

Commissioner Ryu proposed the statistical registry and personal information protection as two core pillars of the 'K-Statistics System.' He suggested gathering all national statistical data into a statistical registry similar to the resident registration system, aiming for 'secure linkage' by utilizing homomorphic encryption, the most secure information protection technology currently available. This approach has recently been praised as a new national statistics paradigm at international organizations such as the UN Statistical Commission and the OECD Policy Committee Presidium meetings.

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