South Korea’s new Government has unveiled plans to “streamline” the Public Service, citing concerns about efficiency after a rapid expansion in the bureaucracy under the previous administration.
Minister for Finance, Choo Kyung-ho said the aim was to cut the number of employees and reduce expenses at the various Ministries as the first step in a planned series of reform measures.
President Yoon Suk-yeol, who took office in May, has promised to reform the public sector and said early in July that his Government would aggressively cut expenditure and sell non-core assets at public enterprises.
The move comes as Mr Yoon suffers a sustained decline in approval ratings, with the latest weekly opinion poll from Gallup Korea showing his approval fell to 28 per cent from 32 per cent a week earlier.
Mr Choo (pictured) said a total of 350 public organisations were employing 449,000 people as of the end of May and carrying 583 trillion won ($A64 billion) in combined liabilities at the end of 2021.
This was up by 34 per cent and 17 per cent over the past five years, respectively.
“There are concerns among the general public and experts about efficiency and profitability matching the rapid expansion in scale of public organisations,” Mr Choo said.
Seoul, 30 July 2022
