Gyeongnam Province Maintains Integration and Closure of Relevant Centers ... Will Support Employment Stability Within Legal Framework

Gyeongnam Provincial Government. / Photo by Se-ryeong Lee ryeong@

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Seryeong] Gyeongsangnam-do has pledged efforts to secure the employment stability of workers at 12 centers under the province’s jurisdiction that are being merged or closed.

Recently, Gyeongnam Province decided to close 8 centers and merge or consolidate 4 centers out of 99 centers under its jurisdiction to strengthen responsible administration of public affairs and improve operational efficiency.

Existing projects operated at the centers being closed will be linked with other projects or converted into alternative or supplementary projects.

Unnecessary and non-urgent expenditure budgets have been restructured, resulting in a budget reduction of 5.9 billion KRW for next year.

According to the province, the decision to merge or close centers was made after heads of relevant departments and bureaus reviewed factors such as ▲poor performance or inefficient and repetitive operations ▲decline or reduction of functions due to changes in administrative demand or similar and overlapping operations ▲excessive project costs or wasteful budget spending.

The centers to be closed in December include the Social Economy Integrated Support Center, Inter-Korean Exchange Cooperation Research Center, Artists Welfare Center, Sports Industry Promotion Support Center, Agriculture and Fisheries Policy Center, and Youth Center.

Centers to be closed next year include the Village Community Support Center and Northeast Asia Port Logistics Research Center, while the Gyeongnam Women’s New Work Center and Youth Counseling Welfare Center Family Center will be merged with centers performing similar functions.

A provincial official stated, “To maximize policy effectiveness, we will continuously maintain and establish comprehensive management plans every year,” adding, “We will strive to improve the quality of administrative services for residents and ensure that not a single won of residents’ taxes is wasted.”

He continued, “Whether the employment of workers at centers that are closed or merged is succeeded depends on contracts signed between the entrusted institutions and the workers,” and said, “We will do our utmost to support employment stability within the scope of relevant laws through close consultation between the relevant departments and entrusted institutions.”

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