Newly appointed police officers salute to the president at the Korean National Police University in South Chungcheong on March 17.JOINT PRESS CORPS
Korea will add some 4,000 public servant positions next year, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced Tuesday.
The government plans to hire 700 more labor inspectors to prevent serious workplace accidents and bolster front line policing with more than 500 additional personnel. It will also strengthen staffing in advanced industries such as AI and improve efficiency by reassigning duties.
The government’s budget proposal unveiled on Tuesday includes a net increase of 3,851 positions. The National Assembly will determine the final figure after deliberations in December.
The government plans to complete the corresponding organizational and administrative revisions in the first quarter of next year. The country had 753,689 national government employees as of the end of last year.
The biggest staffing push will be in workplace oversight. The government plans to add 700 labor inspectors next year, including 540 for industrial safety and 160 for labor standards enforcement. It added 1,000 inspectors in each of the past two years.
Staffing will also increase in areas focused on crime prevention and protecting minorities.
The government will assign 72 additional staffers to probation and electronic monitoring of high-risk offenders and 17 to care for vulnerable people, including those with disabilities. Another 64 will work on drug probation and rehabilitation in correctional facilities. Nine more will track down and recover overseas assets hidden by major tax delinquents.
“Those figures represent a net increase in staffing,” said an official from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.
The government also plans to set up the centralized forest disaster operations center with a three-person team to oversee wildfires and landslides. It will add three workers to respond to chemical accidents at industrial complexes and one to handle the prevention and control of zoonotic diseases.
Interior Minister Yun Ho-jung speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the Blue House in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Sept. 1.NEWS1
A total of 569 personnel will be added to front line law enforcement. The police will add 215 personnel, primarily for investigations into drugs and cybercrime as well as criminal complaints and accusations.
Two metropolitan and provincial police agencies will each establish a position overseeing investigative reviews, while five police stations will each create a new investigation division.
The Korea Coast Guard will add 354 personnel, including 222 crew members needed to operate 35 new vessels, 12 members for its central regional special rescue unit and 23 investigators for drug crimes at sea.
The education sector will gain 1,139 positions. They will include teachers for the growing number of students requiring special education, including students with disabilities, as well as specialized teachers responsible for student health and counseling. National universities will also expand their faculty to train professionals in regional essential health care and advanced industries.
First-graders are guided to their seats in a classroom at an elementary school in Daegu on March 3.NEWS1
The government will also bolster its AI and advanced-technology work force by adding dedicated teams and personnel in areas such as defense, land and transportation. It will hire 105 more patent examiners specializing in advanced technologies to expedite patent reviews for companies.
The government will also create new youth policy units within the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Planning and Budget. The National Labor Relations Commission will get 47 new investigator positions following revisions to the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act.
However, the planned staffing increase will not translate directly into the same number of new hires. The government draws up an annual recruitment plan for central government employees after separately assessing staffing needs at each ministry, including retirements and demand for open recruitment, which may involve simple reassignment rather than open hiring.
The government plans to restructure existing organizations even as it increases the overall number of public officials. Personnel in organizations where workloads have declined or functions have been scaled back will be reassigned to areas facing new administrative demands.
The government, for example, plans to close the Hwacheon branch of the settlement support center for North Korean defectors in Gangwon. Instead, it will establish an integrated support center for defectors and their families in crisis. Authorities will manage temporary staffing needs with fixed-assignment positions rather than permanent hires.
“We prioritized staffing in front line areas that protect people’s lives and safety, including labor and policing,” Interior Minister Yun Ho-jung said. “We will continue to streamline the government through regular organizational reviews and staff reassignments.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
