Announcement of Location for Jaewoe Dongpo Cheong Postponed... "Additional Collection of Diaspora Opinions"

Judgment That Opinion Gathering Was Insufficient
Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "Will Finalize and Announce Soon"

The final decision on the location of the Overseas Korean Agency, which was expected to be announced soon, has been postponed. It was decided to undergo an additional process of gathering opinions from overseas Koreans, judging that the previous opinion collection was somewhat insufficient.

An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told reporters on the 13th, "(The location of the Overseas Korean Agency) will be promptly finalized and announced after collecting various opinions from overseas Koreans and citizens, and comprehensively considering factors such as convenience for overseas Koreans, work efficiency, the symbolic significance of the location, and balanced regional development," adding, "The establishment of the Overseas Korean Agency is a long-standing wish of overseas Koreans and one of the national agenda items. Considering its importance and high interest, we are conducting an in-depth review of the agency's location."

Foreign Minister Park Jin is speaking at the ruling party-government meeting for the successful launch of the Overseas Koreans Office held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the 12th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Earlier, the ruling party and government held a meeting on the 12th to review the launch status of the Overseas Korean Agency. Park Dae-chul, the Policy Committee Chair of the People Power Party, said in a briefing on the results of the meeting, "The ruling party and government have reached considerable agreement today regarding the location issue," and "We decided to finalize and announce the location soon to ensure there are no obstacles to the official launch on June 5."

Accordingly, it was expected that the report to the Presidential Office and the final announcement of the location would be completed within this week at the earliest. However, it has been reported that there is an opinion within the government that the views of overseas Koreans who will use the agency should be more thoroughly gathered without limiting to a specific region. In the past, the Overseas Koreans Foundation also conducted public opinion collection related to the location of the Overseas Korean Agency, but it was judged that this process was insufficient.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is known to hold the position that the final decision on the location must be made next week since the Overseas Korean Agency must be launched by June 5.

The Overseas Korean Agency will handle consular and civil service matters as well as tasks previously performed by the Overseas Koreans Foundation, such as overseas Korean exchange cooperation and next-generation Korean education. The Overseas Koreans Foundation relocated from Seoul to Seogwipo City, Jeju, in July 2018, but the newly established Overseas Korean Agency is likely to be located in a different region considering accessibility. Currently, several local governments including Incheon and Gwangju have entered the competition to host it, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed a preference for Seoul considering work efficiency and accessibility and convenience for overseas Koreans.

An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on the 4th, "Since the Overseas Korean Agency will be under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the decision will be made in a format decided by the Ministry, but in reality, it will be determined through various consultations with related ministries and the Presidential Office."

The Overseas Korean Agency, the first agency-level institution under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is planned to launch with a total of 151 personnel, including one head and one deputy head.

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