Presidential office to mobilize officials to inspect all ministries

Starting this week, the Office of the President will mobilize administrative officials from the Secretary to the President for Civil Service Discipline to conduct service inspections of all ministries. It is a move by the presidential office to directly control the officialdom, which has been criticized for its lack of discipline due to the controversy over the troubled Saemangeum World Scout Jamboree.

According to the government on Sunday, the presidential office plans to conduct service inspections of all ministries for over two weeks starting this week. Administrative officials from the Secretary to the President for Civil Service Discipline will visit ministries in person to examine work discipline and irregularities. "Given the recent concerns that the public service has become lax, this inspection is intended to inject tension into each ministry and create an atmosphere wherein civil servants focus on national tasks from September onward," a government official said.

Many in government ministries are nervous because the presidential office itself is taking the initiative instead of the usual service inspection conducted by the Office of Government Policy Coordination at the Prime Minister’s Office. The heavy rains in mid-July, which caused massive casualties, and the fiasco of the Jamboree event earlier this month, have resulted in mounting criticism from both inside and outside the government about passive public administration and laxity in the public service.

The presidential office will reportedly use the service inspection to check whether the national tasks that each ministry is responsible for are being carried out speedily. With President Yoon Suk Yeol having replaced Minister of Trade, Industry, and Energy Lee Chang-yang recently, watchers say the presidential office will evaluate the progress of national tasks and make further reshuffles before the Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) holiday.

"The mission of the Secretary to the President for Civil Service Discipline is to support ministries so that national tasks can be implemented properly while they strictly comply with public integrity," an official from the presidential office said. "It is an activity executed constantly to ensure the integrity in officialdom all the time."


Do-Hyong Kim dodo@donga.com · Joo-Young Jeon aimhigh@donga.com