President Lee Jae-myung on Wednesday signaled a sweeping reorganization of government-funded research institutes and other public institutions. He raised concerns over administrative staff being fragmented across individual agencies and called for more efficient organizational management.
At a work report session for 102 public and affiliated institutions held at the Yeongbingwan guesthouse of the former presidential compound, Lee said, "From the public's perspective, there are organizations that one questions whether they really need to be managed as separate independent agencies."
Lee pointed out the high proportion of non-research staff within research institutes and repeatedly stressed the need to trim the fat at government-funded research institutes. He directly cited the personnel structures of individual institutions, criticizing what he called excessive non-research staffing at research bodies. Referring to the Korean Educational Development Institute and the Korea Labor Institute, he said, "Research is the essence, yet there are too many support personnel." He added, "If more than one-third of the staff at an institution whose essence is research consists of non-research personnel, isn't that strange?"
In connection with the report from the Korea-Africa Foundation, he pointed out that it would have been more efficient to keep it as an internal organization within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and raised his voice saying, "When criticized for increasing the number of civil servants, they create organizations in misguided ways and end up working inefficiently." He criticized the practice as "populism that ends up requiring administrative personnel, secretaries, accounting staff, and even cleaning staff," adding, "Under the pretext of avoiding populism, they create even greater populism and waste the national budget." He went on to say, "I will take the criticism for increasing the number of state civil servants, so let the ministries handle it rationally."
During the reports, sharp rebukes toward research institute heads also followed. When Kim Young-chan, president of the Korea Transport Institute, exaggerated statistical figures in his report, Lee dismissed it, saying, "How can a researcher not know the numbers?" He added, "Exaggeration is something politicians do." He also threw a pointed joke at the Korea Institute of Public Finance, which had targeted his own local currency policy during his days as a provincial governor, saying, "It is a place with many ties."
Lee also ordered a review of either a dedicated research institute or a government organization for youth policy. He took the view that while youth issues are tangled as complex challenges involving housing, jobs, finance, welfare, and low birth rates, there is effectively no control tower to research and coordinate these issues in a comprehensive manner. His remarks are being interpreted as having in mind the creation of a "Ministry of Youth" if necessary.
While receiving a report from the National Youth Policy Institute, Lee asked, "Is it that Korea has no separate youth policy research institute, and the Youth Policy Institute is handling that work as well?" When the answer came that there is no dedicated agency and that each institute conducts research divided by field, he pointed out, "A place that conducts policy research specialized in youth is effectively non-existent right now."
Lee continued, "Other countries create ministries of youth and even appoint dedicated ministers, but we don't even have a dedicated department," adding, "There is a need to conduct policy research independently as well." He said, "If necessary, we need to consider either creating another research institute or establishing a new government policy department."
Prime Minister Kim Min-seok also added support, saying, "There is a youth-related organization under the Prime Minister's Office, but its functions are still weak," and "Now is the time to consider a system that brings together multi-ministry projects in one place." With both the president and the prime minister simultaneously mentioning the need for organizational reform, and with Lee stating, "I will present it at the Cabinet meeting and discuss it," follow-up review is expected to begin in earnest.
