According to Yonhap News, the Seoul-based news agency, on October 13, the South Korean Ministry of Administrative Safety announced the detailed plan for the relocation of the second round of central administrative agencies. According to this plan, 44 central administrative agencies, including those of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Defense, will be relocated to Sejong City, located south of Seoul, over a period from 2027 to 2031. This relocation will involve nearly 10,000 civil servants.
According to the introduction, the relocation process will be carried out in two ways: relocating using a leased office building in 2027, and relocating in stages after the construction of a new office building by 2031.
According to the first-phase plan, 27 out of 44 organizations scheduled to relocate will do so in 2027. Among them, six institutions such as the Broadcasting Media Communication Committee, the Personal Information Protection Committee, and the Atomic Energy Safety Committee will relocate in the first half of the year, while 19 institutions including the Financial Committee will relocate in the second half of the year.
It is worth noting that the South Korean 'Special Law on the Construction of Administrative Central Complex Cities' previously classified the Ministry of Justice, the Department of Gender and Family Equality, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Unification, and the Ministry of National Defense as institutions not eligible for relocation. The new plan now includes relocating all five departments. The Lee Jae-myung government is pushing to revise this law. Among them, the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Gender and Family Equality are included in the first-phase plan, and the specific relocation time will be determined after the law is revised.
According to the second phase plan, the remaining 17 institutions will be relocated in stages before 2031, after the construction of new office buildings. These include five criminal justice agencies: the Supervision and Inspection Agency, the Public Prosecution Office, the Major Crimes Investigation Office, the Police Agency, and the Senior Public Officials Crimes Investigation Department. There are also three diplomatic and security departments: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Unity Ministry, and the Ministry of National Defense. Additionally, there are nine subordinate agencies, including the National History Compilation Committee and the National Diplomatic Academy.
Additionally, the President Sejong Office and the National Assembly Sejong Hall are scheduled to be completed in 2029 and 2033, respectively.
The plan to relocate the central administrative agencies in South Korea originated during the Roh Moo-hyun administration. The government proposed moving the capital, but this was ruled unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court. As a result, the plan was changed to keeping Seoul as the capital, while relocating the central administrative agencies to the newly established Sejong City. In 2014, the first round of large-scale relocation was completed. Over the following decade, several more government agencies moved in.
