South Korean Prime Minister Han Seong-sook speaks during a coordination meeting with related ministers to discuss key state affairs at the government complex in Seoul, South Korea, 03 September 2026. Photo by YONHAP / EPA

Sept. 3 (Asia Today) — South Korea will begin relocating about 350 administrative agencies and public institutions from the Seoul metropolitan area in the first half of 2027 as part of a sweeping decentralization and public-sector restructuring plan.

The government also plans to consolidate overlapping institutions and smaller public agencies, reducing the total number of public institutions by 109.

Prime Minister Han Seong-sook announced the plan Thursday at the Government Complex Seoul.

The reduction, equivalent to about 20% of the country’s public institutions, would be the largest public-sector consolidation of its kind in South Korea.

The plan includes combining the country’s five regional power-generation companies into a single organization and consolidating four regional port authorities.

“We will move quickly with the relocation of public institutions,” Han said. “Under the principle of minimizing the number that remain behind, we will announce the relocation plan during the fourth quarter and begin relocations in 2027.”

Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Kim Yoon-duk said the government would not wait for new headquarters to be built before moving agencies.

“As we did during the first round of relocations, we will use leased private buildings and other facilities to immediately begin advance relocations next year,” Kim said.

The government also plans to move central administrative agencies currently based in the Seoul metropolitan area to Sejong, South Korea’s administrative capital.

Larger agencies and ministries whose relocation is expected to have a substantial effect, including the Justice Ministry and Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, will be among the first to move.

“Sejong is both a symbol and central pillar of balanced development,” Han said.

She said the government plans to complete a presidential office in Sejong by August 2029 and support completion of the National Assembly’s Sejong complex by 2033.

Agencies requiring purpose-built facilities, including the planned Prosecution Office and Serious Crimes Investigation Agency as well as the National Police Agency, will relocate after new buildings are completed.

Relocations of the Foreign Ministry, Unification Ministry and Financial Services Commission are also being considered.

Interior and Safety Minister Yoon Ho-jung said agencies not specifically identified in Thursday’s announcement should not be considered exempt.

“The final list of institutions subject to relocation will be confirmed and officially announced during the fourth quarter,” Yoon said.

He said the Foreign and Unification ministries could move in coordination with the relocation of the presidential office in 2030 and opening of the National Assembly’s Sejong complex in 2033.

“Balanced growth is no longer a matter of choice but a survival strategy for a sustainable Republic of Korea,” Han said.

The government said the relocation and restructuring programs would be coordinated with broader regional growth projects designed to ease overcrowding in the Seoul metropolitan area and create new economic growth engines outside the capital region.

An interagency body led by the prime minister’s office will regularly review implementation.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

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Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260903010001256