President Yoon: "Sale of Luxurious Public Corporation Buildings... Intensive Restructuring Needed" (Comprehensive)

Deputy Prime Minister Choo Kyung-ho "The Party Is Over"... Likely to Start Discussions by Forming Ministry of Economy and Finance TF

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] President Yoon Suk-yeol stated on the 21st, "Public enterprises are being managed wastefully," and emphasized, "In the current difficult economic situation, intensive restructuring is necessary." President Yoon judged that "innovation in public institutions is an urgent task that can no longer be postponed," and following restructuring of personnel and debt in public institutions, plans to discuss ways to utilize resources are expected.

In his opening remarks at the Cabinet meeting held at the Yongsan Presidential Office building that morning, President Yoon pointed out the debt and wasteful management of public institutions and stressed, "We must boldly improve these issues."

In particular, President Yoon criticized, "The debt of public institutions has surged over the past five years, reaching 583 trillion won as of the end of last year," and added, "Despite the rapid increase in debt, the organizations and personnel of public institutions have significantly expanded over the past five years." He continued, "Public institutions must be strictly evaluated to become small but efficient organizations that earn the trust of the people."

He also mentioned that innovation of the 350 public institutions is a task that all ministries must jointly pursue. President Yoon said, "Intensive expenditure restructuring is necessary," and added, "Fiscal resources must be spent where absolutely necessary, and funds should be generously and warmly allocated to truly socially vulnerable groups who desperately need government support." Regarding this, President Yoon urged, "All government officials and public institution employees across ministries should have a sense of crisis and commit to revitalizing the economy."

At the Cabinet meeting that day, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho, who presented on public institution innovation, declared, "The public institution party is over," signaling intensive restructuring following President Yoon’s remarks. A presidential office official said, "President Yoon pointed out the need to reduce excessively large office spaces and sell luxurious buildings to convert them into rentals to cut costs," and added, "He said that if public institutions show thriftiness during this emergency economic situation, the public will view them favorably."

President Yoon also referred to overseas public institution cases. The official explained, "He mentioned that many operate frugally and on a small scale, and expressed hope that Korea could learn from that," and added, "The Ministry of Economy and Finance has formed a task force to recover costs through restructuring and return them to the national treasury to benefit the marginalized."

Meanwhile, at the Cabinet meeting, proposals to apply a 0% tariff quota on 13 imported items including cooking oil, flour, and pork, and to extend the 30% reduction in individual consumption tax on passenger cars, which was scheduled to end this month, until the end of the year were both approved. A presidential office official said, "We decided to lower the tariff quota on 13 imported items whose prices and supply are currently unstable," and added, "The extension of the passenger car individual consumption tax reduction is expected to play a significant role in helping the struggling automobile industry and easing consumer burdens amid the prolonged Russia-Ukraine conflict, global supply chain issues, and soaring manufacturing costs."

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