Kim Hyun-sook, who supported the transfer of the Ministry of Gender Equality's functions to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, says "We should move towards an integrated governance model"

Minister Kim Hyun-sook on Government Organization Restructuring Plan: "Fine-tuning with Ministry of the Interior and Safety"
Transfer of Women's Ministry Functions to Ministry of Health and Welfare Likely to Establish 'Women and Family Headquarters'
"Working Within a Ministry with More Infrastructure Is More Organic"
Opposes Strengthening Women's Ministry: "There Are Issues in Collaboration with Other Ministries"

Minister of Gender Equality and Family Kim Hyun-sook is attending the Cabinet meeting held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 16th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Kim Hyun-sook, Minister of Gender Equality and Family, expressed her de facto support on the 5th for the plan to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF) by transferring a significant portion of its duties to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stating that "going towards a form of integrated governance is a way to strengthen functions."

Minister Kim appeared on MBC Radio's Kim Jong-bae's Focus this morning and said, "Unlike other ministries that are function-centered, MOGEF is a target-centered ministry, and the tasks related to women as the target are scattered everywhere, so working within the framework of a ministry with more infrastructure is more organic." She added, "From an efficiency perspective, no matter how much the budget and organization of MOGEF increase, there are still issues in collaboration with various ministries," and said, "From a practical point of view, there are few things that can be done in this form. I thought it would be better to change the big framework."

Minister Kim emphasized a 'practical perspective' as the reason for abolishing MOGEF. She said, "To eliminate gender gaps in various areas, the organizational form can sufficiently change according to changes in the times or social demands," and added, "It is not important who does it, but how it is done efficiently. The abolition of MOGEF is being discussed from a practical perspective." She mentioned examples from Sweden, Germany, and Australia, explaining that depending on administrative conditions and social issues, the ministry responsible for gender equality tasks can change.

Regarding the plan to transfer family, youth, and women's rights tasks to the Ministry of Health and Welfare and establish a provisional 'Women and Family Headquarters,' Minister Kim said, "The direction to abolish is correct, but we are making fine adjustments with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety," and added, "The overall details will be disclosed when the Ministry of the Interior and Safety explains them to the Democratic Party."

There is also a forecast that even if the government submits a reorganization plan, it will be difficult to pass due to opposition from the ruling Democratic Party. Minister Kim said, "We will hold discussions with various civic groups and related stakeholders, and if a public hearing is held in the National Assembly, I will visit lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties to fully explain from a practical perspective why we need to go with the big framework, and I will do my best to ensure it passes in the National Assembly."

Although President Yoon Seok-yeol asserted that there is 'no structural gender discrimination,' Minister Kim acknowledged the existence of 'gender gaps.' She said, "The gender wage gap and the low proportion of women in political power in our country need improvement," and added, "These two factors have a large weight in the Global Gender Gap Index (GII). Our country ranked 99th this year, and if improvements are made in these areas, it will greatly help eliminate the gender gap in Korea."

The women's community is strongly opposing the plan. They criticized the move to bring up the abolition plan amid the president's approval rating dropping to 24%, accusing it of political exploitation. A total of 238 women's civic organizations issued a statement saying, "Bringing up the card of abolishing MOGEF is a foolish blunder by a specific group that either does not recognize or ignores structural gender discrimination and the reality of women, trying to draw support amid political crises, which rather invites further political crisis," and "We strongly condemn the government and the People Power Party for attempting to roll back women's rights and gender equality policies by mentioning 'abolishing the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family' at every political crisis, and demand the immediate cessation of attempts to abolish MOGEF."

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