65% of Presidential Committees Integrated or Abolished... 'Ensuring Flexibility and Efficiency'

Presidential Office "Estimated Total Cost Savings of 30 Billion Won"

On the 16th, one day before President Yoon Suk-yeol's 100th day in office, the Presidential Office building in Yongsan-gu, Seoul is shown. President Yoon, emphasizing the elimination of authoritarianism, moved the seat of government from the former Blue House to Yongsan. With the president's office relocated to Yongsan, the Blue House has been fully opened to the public. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] On the 7th, the Presidential Office announced that as part of establishing a flexible and efficient government system, 13 out of 20 presidential committees, accounting for 65%, will be merged or abolished.

Lim Sang-jun, Secretary for National Agenda, stated at a briefing at the Yongsan Presidential Office in the afternoon, "We have established three main criteria: abolishing dormant committees that are poorly operated, merging or consolidating similar or overlapping committees, and replacing committees that can function as advisory or non-permanent consultative bodies," explaining the decision.

Secretary Lim explained, "Over two months, each ministry created its own reorganization plan based on these criteria, and after diagnosis by a public-private joint inspection team, all government committees were thoroughly reviewed and the reorganization plan was finalized."

There have been calls for reorganization of dormant committees as the number of government committees increased from 530 during the Lee Myung-bak administration to 558 under Park Geun-hye, and 637 during the Moon Jae-in administration.

Through this committee reorganization, 246 committees, accounting for 39% of the current 636 government committees, will be abolished or merged. Among the 20 presidential committees, excluding the newly established National Integration Committee on May 30, 13 will be reorganized.

Specifically, the National Education Council, 4th Industrial Revolution Committee, Northern Economic Cooperation Committee, Military Death Accident Investigation Committee, and National Human Resources Committee will be abolished.

The National Intellectual Property Committee, Materials, Parts, and Equipment Competitiveness Enhancement Committee, National Water Management Committee, and Asia Culture Center City Committee will be transferred under the Prime Minister’s jurisdiction. The Library Information Policy Committee, National Architecture Policy Committee, and National Bioethics Review Committee will be transferred to the relevant ministries.

The Autonomy and Decentralization Committee and the National Balanced Development Committee will be integrated into the "Local Era Committee." Until the related bill passes in the National Assembly, the current National Balanced Development Committee will perform the duties of both committees.

The Low Birthrate and Aging Society Committee, Economic, Social and Labor Committee, Regulatory Reform Committee, National Space Committee, 2050 Carbon Neutral Green Growth Committee, and Special Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries, and Rural Areas will remain as presidential committees. However, their functions and governance will be supplemented and reorganized according to future circumstances.

Among the 61 committees under the Prime Minister, 21 committees, accounting for 34%, will be reorganized, and 227 committees, or 41%, of the 554 committees under ministries will be merged or reorganized.

A Presidential Office official explained, "The operating budget for committees is about 100 billion KRW. About 20 billion KRW will be saved from abolished committees, and 10 billion KRW from integration and efficiency improvements, totaling an estimated 30 billion KRW in cost savings."

To prevent the establishment of new committees in the future, a revision to the "Administrative Agency Committee Act" will be submitted to the National Assembly, stipulating a maximum duration of five years for newly established committees. The committee reorganization plan will be announced for public comment today, go through the Cabinet meeting at the end of this month, and then be submitted to the National Assembly.

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