Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Gender Equality and Family to Relocate to Sejong Next Year... Public Institutions Also Moving to Regions

[Anchor]

Following the first wave of administrative and public institution relocations initiated under the Roh Moo-hyun administration in 2005, the government has decided to move forward in earnest with a second wave of relocations. In the first half of next year, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family will begin relocating to Sejong City, while some 350 public institutions in the Seoul metropolitan area will also be pushed to relocate to regional innovation cities.

Reporter Kim Hye-young has the details.

[Reporter]

The current Multifunctional Administrative City Construction Act explicitly lists five agencies that are excluded from relocation to Sejong City.

The government has decided to amend this law to push forward with the relocation of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family starting in the first half of next year.

[Han Sung-sook / Prime Minister: Starting in the first half of 2027, we will prioritize relocating agencies with large relocation scales and ripple effects to Sejong Special Self-Governing City.]

Among the government's 19 ministry-level departments, only four currently have their headquarters in Seoul: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Unification, the Ministry of National Defense, and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.

There is one department located in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, which is the Ministry of Justice.

In Busan, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries relocated last year, while the remaining 13 departments—including the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the Ministry of Education—are based in Sejong.

If the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in Seoul and the Ministry of Justice in Gwacheon relocate to Sejong City as planned, the number of ministry-level departments in Sejong will increase to 15, while those in the capital area will decrease to 3.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Unification, and the Ministry of National Defense decided to review their relocation to Sejong in line with the construction of the presidential Sejong office in 2029 and the opening of the National Assembly Sejong branch in 2033.

Agencies requiring separate buildings, such as the Public Prosecutors' Office, the Major Crime Investigation Agency, and the National Police Agency, will pursue relocation after constructing new buildings.

Some 350 public institutions in the capital area will also begin relocating to regional innovation cities starting next year, under the principle of minimizing the number of institutions remaining in the metropolitan area.

[Han Sung-sook / Prime Minister: We will avoid a pie-slicing distribution approach, gather the energy of regional growth like a bonfire, and deploy it directly around innovation cities to maximize the power of regional hubs.]

The government plans to finalize and announce the administrative and public institutions subject to relocation and their respective relocation regions in the fourth quarter of this year.

(Video by Cho Choon-dong | Video Editing by Yoo Mi-ra | Graphics by Im Chan-hyuk and Yang Gi-tae)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.