Two ministries moving to Sejong in 2019

By Kwak Yeon-soo

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety, and the Ministry of Science and ICT will be moving to Sejong administrative city, 130 kilometers south of Seoul.

A number of ministries and other government agencies have moved there mostly from Seoul and Gyeonggi Province since 2012.

According to the interior ministry, the relocation of the two offices comes with two major purposes: to cement Sejong’s role as an administrative city, and to support balanced regional development. The interior and science ministries are located in Seoul and Gwacheon, respectively.

The move comes in line with President Moon Jae-in’s presidential pledge to run state affairs more transparently. The relocation plan was also included in the 100 tasks contained in Moon's five-year policy roadmap released last July.

Speculation is now arising over whether the presidential office will use offices vacated by the two ministries next year.

The two ministries will have to move into private buildings in Sejong as there are no vacant government ones available. A new government complex will be constructed by 2021 to house them.

A 12 billion won ($11.2 million) budget has been set aside for the construction project, officials said.

Meanwhile, the Coast Guard will move back to Incheon from Sejong by end of this year to strengthen maritime policing and keep track of offshore disasters.

Some 1,692 civil servants, 915 from the interior ministry and 777 from the science ministry, will move to Sejong while 449 Coast Guard officials will relocate to Incheon.

The interior ministry is carefully reviewing the plan to win approval from the public, relevant organizations, and the President as they may be faced with the criticism of creating administrative inefficiency.

Following the latest announcement, only five ministries will be left in Seoul _ the foreign, unification, justice, defense, and gender equality and family ministries.