Chungnam to Abolish and Consolidate the Proliferating 'Committees'

[Asia Economy (Hongseong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Chungnam Province is undertaking a major overhaul of the numerous committees under its jurisdiction that have proliferated rapidly.

According to the province on the 16th, the number of committees under its jurisdiction steadily increased from 143 in 2018 to 155 in 2019, 182 in 2020, 211 in 2021, and 215 this year. This represents a total increase of 72 committees over five years.

However, the rapid surge in committees has led to issues such as poor meeting performance in some cases and overlapping or redundant functions. While the number of committees has grown in size, the structure has made efficient committee management difficult.

Accordingly, the province plans to reorganize 126 committees (including 6 unformed ones) out of the total 215 committees, excluding 95 committees that are legally required to be established, through abolition and consolidation.

The province expects to target a total of 73 committees for reorganization. Among these, it has decided to abolish 3 committees, consolidate 26, convert 35 into ad hoc committees, transform 1 into a consultative body, specify the duration for 2 committees to continue, and maintain the unformed status for 6 committees that are currently not constituted.

To facilitate the reorganization, the province will prepare related ordinance amendments this month and aims to complete the reorganization by the first quarter of next year.

Once completed, the number of committees under the province’s jurisdiction is expected to decrease from 215 to 148, a reduction of 67.

Yu Ho-yeol, head of the Community Policy Division of the province, stated, “In the future, when establishing or reorganizing committees, we will strengthen prior reviews to enhance the substance and efficiency of committee operations.”

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