25 Seoul-Area Agencies to Relocate in Stages... Foreign and Unification Ministries Also Consider Move [Reorganization and Relocation of Administrative and Public Institutions]

Starting in the first half of next year, the government will relocate central administrative agencies remaining in the Seoul metropolitan area, including the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, to Sejong City. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Unification will consider relocating by 2030. The Public Prosecution Office, Serious Crime Investigation Agency, Korean National Police Agency, and Supreme Prosecutors' Office of the Republic of Korea are also effectively expected to move.
Yun Ho-jung, minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS), made the announcement at a press conference on the relocation of administrative and public institutions and functional reform of public institutions held on the third at Government Complex Seoul. "Rather than moving all agencies uniformly at the same time, we will proceed in stages, taking each agency's operational conditions and state of readiness into account so that there is no administrative disruption," he said.
According to MOIS, approximately 17,000 civil servants currently work in Sejong City. About 15,400 work at Government Complex Sejong, while roughly 1,700 work in leased office buildings. If the second relocation of central administrative agencies is completed as planned, Sejong's administrative workforce will grow further.
Although 43 agencies relocated to Sejong City during the first phase, 119 agencies remain in the Seoul metropolitan area, including 25 central administrative agencies such as the Financial Services Commission (FSC). In Seoul, these include the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Unification, Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, Korean National Police Agency, Supreme Prosecutors' Office of the Republic of Korea, FSC, Personal Information Protection Commission, and Nuclear Safety and Security Commission. The Ministry of Justice, Korea Media and Communications Commission, and Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials are operating in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, while the Overseas Koreans Agency and Korea Coast Guard are based in Incheon.
The first agencies to move will be the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. The government plans to relocate the two ministries as a priority beginning in the first half of 2027.
However, the law must be amended first. Article 16 of the current Special Act on the Construction of Administrative City excludes the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Unification, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of National Defense, and Ministry of Gender Equality and Family from the list of agencies eligible for relocation to Sejong. The government will therefore first pursue amendments deleting the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Gender Equality and Family from the list of excluded agencies.
The Financial Services Commission and Personal Information Protection Commission are not excluded from relocation under the Special Act on the Construction of Administrative City, so they do not need to amend exclusion provisions first, as the Ministry of Justice does. The key question is whether they will be included in the "Relocation Plan for Central Administrative Agencies and Others," which the government will finalize in the fourth quarter.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Unification will consider whether to relocate to Sejong in line with the planned moves of the Sejong presidential office in August 2029 and the Sejong National Assembly building in 2033.
The government will also pursue the relocation of the Korean National Police Agency and the future Public Prosecution Office and Serious Crime Investigation Agency to Sejong. Yun said, "For agencies that require separate headquarters, such as the Public Prosecution Office and Serious Crime Investigation Agency and the Korean National Police Agency, we will pursue relocation after new headquarters are constructed."
The remaining process is as follows: MOIS will prepare the "Relocation Plan for Central Administrative Agencies and Others," followed by a meeting of relevant ministries, preparation of a revised relocation plan, a public hearing, and consultations with the agencies. Once approved by the president, the plan will be announced in the Official Gazette. Education and residential conditions must also be reviewed.
[email protected] Lee Bo-mi Reporter