"Let's Fix Illegal and Illegitimate Practices"... Lee Jaemyung's National Normalization Project Launches Central Task Force

The government is launching the "National Normalization Project" to address unreasonable practices and various illegal or expedient acts.

On April 24, the Office for Government Policy Coordination held an appointment ceremony and kickoff meeting for civilian members of the National Normalization Project Task Force (TF), presided over by Director Yoon Changryeol. The National Normalization Project aims to realize the "nation built on fundamentals" that the Lee Jaemyung administration aspires to, with each ministry identifying normalization tasks to create tangible changes that citizens can feel.

In this context, President Lee Jaemyung instructed last month that "we must end the abnormal era in which breaking the rules is rewarded and abiding by the rules is penalized, by improving the overall system of our society to be fair, transparent, and rational." He directed each ministry to select and pursue initiatives to "normalize the abnormal." This statement is understood to be based on his previous experience as mayor of Seongnam and governor of Gyeonggi Province, where he actively cracked down on illegal practices such as unauthorized occupation of river valleys and fraudulent receipt of subsidies.

The Prime Minister's Office plans to solicit suggestions for normalization tasks from frontline public officials and the general public. Civil servants who propose selected tasks will be rewarded with incentives such as commendations, performance bonuses, and personnel benefits.

To this end, a central TF under the Prime Minister's Office and 50 field-specific TFs at each central administrative agency will be formed and operated. Each field-specific TF will be composed of up to 10 members, including the head or deputy head of the agency. To ensure fairness, more than half of the members will be external personnel such as private sector experts.

At the appointment ceremony for civilian members, Yoon Changryeol, head of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, said, "We expect the private sector to identify the blind spots in administration from a new perspective."

The central TF overseeing the overall progress of the TFs at each administrative agency will be led by Deputy Minister Kim Youngsoo. Five civilian members have been appointed: Kim Minho, Director of Regulatory Research at the Korea Development Institute (KDI) (age 44); Kim Hyemin, a Ph.D. candidate at the Moon Soul Graduate School of Future Strategy at KAIST (age 42); Noh Miri, Professor at Dong-A University Law School (age 45); Song Wonseop, Secretariat staff at CityNet (age 27); and Cho Minhyo, Professor at Sungkyunkwan University Graduate School of Governance (age 49). Kim, the Ph.D. candidate, was listed among the complainants in the so-called "mouth covering" incident during the KAIST graduation ceremony attended by former President Yoon Sukyeol. She also declared her candidacy as a Democratic Party of Korea preliminary candidate for Gwangmyeong City in the last general election. At the first meeting, Team Leader Kim Youngsoo stated, "We will closely monitor the implementation status so that each ministry's TF can function effectively and will spare no effort in providing necessary support."

The selection of tasks by each ministry is scheduled to be completed by next month, after which the results will be released to the public in sequence during the presidential work report scheduled for June 2026.

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