Attention is focusing on the outcome as Gyeonggi Province, which has declared a "fiscal emergency," is pushing to merge and abolish its affiliated public institutions.

Currently, Gyeonggi Province has 28 affiliated institutions with a total of about 7,000 employees, and this year's provincial government contributions amount to approximately 490 billion won.

A Gyeonggi official stated on August 30, "With the merger and abolition of affiliated institutions in mind, we are comprehensively reviewing whether similar and overlapping duties among institutions can be efficiently reorganized," adding, "We are also analyzing case studies of what principles and processes other municipal and provincial governments went through during their merger and abolition processes."

The official added, "We plan to finalize the reorganization of related ordinances through consultations with the provincial council by the end of the year, with the goal of implementation on January 1 of next year," while noting, "We are not pushing forward with a predetermined scale for the mergers and abolitions."

Among the 28 affiliated institutions of Gyeonggi Province, five were newly established during the 7th and 8th popular election terms.

During the 7th popular election term, the Gyeonggi Environment and Energy Research Institute, Gyeonggi Market and Shopping District Promotion Agency, Gyeonggi Transportation Corporation, and Gyeonggi Social Service Agency were created, while the Gyeonggi Social Economy Agency was newly established during the 8th popular election term.

Governor Choo Mi-ae is also pushing for the establishment of the Gyeonggi Future Investment Corporation, a public policy finance institution for investments in strategic industries such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence, as a campaign promise with a target for the second half of next year.

A Gyeonggi official said, "There was a time in the past when affiliated institutions increased significantly, so now is the time to review them as a whole," adding, "The top priority of the mergers and abolitions is not fiscal savings, but they are connected," thus not denying that this measure is one of the solutions to overcome the fiscal crisis.

Previously, Gyeonggi Province cut the contributions and support project funds for a substantial number of affiliated institutions while formulating its second supplementary budget proposal.

In particular, for five institutions—including the Gyeonggi Credit Guarantee Foundation, Gyeonggi Research Institute, Gyeonggi Tourism Organization, Gyeonggi Arts Center, and Gyeonggi Market and Shopping District Promotion Agency—amounts exceeding 5 billion won each, totaling 52.2 billion won, were cut.

However, as the merger and abolition of affiliated institutions involve entangled interests with various organizations as well as the institutions themselves, considerable friction is expected until consultations with the provincial council are concluded.

Previously, during the 6th popular election term, mergers and abolitions were pursued as a coalition governance task, and after many twists and turns, the Gyeonggi Small and Medium Business Center and the Gyeonggi Institute of Science and Technology Promotion were integrated into the Gyeonggi Business and Science Accelerator, while the Gyeonggi Lifelong Education Foundation absorbed and integrated the Gyeonggi English Village.

However, during this process, the Gyeonggi Labor Foundation and Gyeonggi Company opened their doors anew, leaving little change in the total number of affiliated institutions overall.

(Photo provided by Gyeonggi Province, Yonhap News)