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Park’s team unveils new government makeup

By Lee Joo-hee

President-elect Park Geun-hye plans to create a super-ministry in charge of science, information and communications as the incoming leader seeks to promote innovation-based growth.

She will also revive the post of deputy prime minister on economy and the ministry of maritime affairs and fisheries.

The overhaul plan will be submitted to the National Assembly during its extraordinary session on Feb. 24.

The science, information and technology sectors will be governed by the Future, Creation and Science Ministry (provisional name). The Science Ministry was combined with the Education Ministry by the incumbent Lee Myung-bak government five years ago.

The revived ministry will be responsible for devising long-term plans to promote research and innovation as a key aspect of Park’s vision for growth driven by creative sectors.

It is to be established in sync with Park’s vision to set up control towers to coordinate policies and reduce the divisive, exclusive, and overlapping operation among government organizations.

The Social Security Commission (provisional name) will coordinate welfare policies and administer their financing. This body will therefore work with 10 agencies including the ministries of health and welfare, strategy and finance and employment and labor.

To coordinate and supervise security affairs, the National Security Office (provisional name) will be based at Cheong Wa Dae.

The office will be in charge of adjusting policies, crisis management and preparing mid and long-term strategies on foreign affairs, defense and inter-Korean relations. The role is an integration of the tasks dealt with by Cheong Wa Dae’s office for the presidential secretary for foreign affairs and security and the national security council.

The head of the office will thus be at a ministerial level.

The Maritime Affairs Ministry, meanwhile, will also be revived, five years after it was closed down by the Lee administration.

These and other government overhaul plans were conjured up by Sungkyunkwan University professor Yoo Min-bong, head of the subcommittee for planning and coordination of state affairs. The panel is joined by Ock Dong-suk of Incheon University and professor-turned-Rep. Kang Seog-hoon of the Saenuri Party.

The routine government shakeup upon each administration change every five years has been discouraged by various pundits because of the resulting confusion, inefficiency and negative side effects -- such as government agencies devoting much time to defending their existence every five years.

Under the single-term presidency of Korea, every ministry that underwent a reshuffle usually spends one year learning their new roles, another year on developing new policies, leaving just three years to get down to business.

“It is important for the government restructuring to be perceived as a process rather than a one-time outcome for a step-by-step and detailed road map (for the future),” said Dr. Park Young-won in his report published by the National Assembly Research Service.

Park also suggested determining whether the new role should be better suited to public or nongovernment body in drawing up new functions and analyzing whether the existing problems occur due to organizational or operational error.

The last government reshuffle made in the U.S., for instance, was in 2002 when the Department of Homeland Security was established for enhanced anti-terrorism role after the Sept. 11 attacks a year before.

Japan has also maintained its structure since its 2001 central government reform.

Since 1992, Korea went through a total of eight government shakeups, with 15 cases of integration and five cases of new establishments.

The only organizations that have maintained their original names since 1948 are the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Justice.

Meanwhile, following the government shakeup, positions of many high-ranking officials are likely to be downsized, sources said.

Park had underscored her vision to expand the number of public servants with relevant experience to better respond to the people’s needs in the education, welfare and police sectors.

The ministries that are likely to face such restructuring in accordance with their merges include the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the Ministry of Knowledge and Economy, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (for the Future Creation Science Ministry) and the Ministry of Knowledge and Economy and the Korea Communications Commission (for the ICT-related body).

 (jhl@heraldcorp.com)