South Korea to unveil plan for relocating central agencies and public institutions

South Korea’s government will announce its plan on July 3 for moving central administrative agencies and public institutions out of Seoul, though the first announcement may stop short of naming every institution involved.

The Prime Minister’s Office said the briefing would cover relocation plans and public-institution functional reform. Prime Minister Han Seong-sook will attend alongside the interior, land and transport ministers and the second vice minister of finance and economy.

The government has been gathering views from institutions under a principle of leaving as few agencies as possible in Seoul. The Interior Ministry has handled central-government relocations, while the Land Ministry has overseen moves involving public institutions. The Financial Services Commission, the Personal Information Protection Commission and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family have been mentioned as possible candidates for relocation to Sejong.

Specific destinations and dates may not be included. The central-agency plan had been expected to reach a Cabinet meeting on June 25 but was left out of the final agenda, apparently because officials needed to reconsider the institutions covered and the timetable.

For public institutions, the government is expected to first present its relocation principles and reform direction. The Land Ministry expects to finalize target institutions and timing around October or November after reviewing mergers, functional adjustments and institutional feedback. Detailed relocation plans for financial public bodies, including the Financial Supervisory Service, Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation and Korea Development Bank, are also expected to be excluded from the initial announcement. President Lee Jae-myung previously said state-owned enterprises would be moved as far as possible and concentrated rather than dispersed.

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State-owned enterprises are being prepared for relocation to regional areas. We will move as many as we can, but dispersal reduced the benefits of concentration. This time, we plan to send them together.