Gov`t to cut 12,000 officials this year: PM Lee

Prime Minister Lee Han-Dong disclosed Tuesday that the government would reduce the number of officials by 12,000 within the year. In reply to a question during the parliamentary interpellation of the government, the prime minister said that as part of reform efforts, the government did its best to downsize administrative organizations and improve the performance of its employees, adding that a total of 71,000 officials would be cut over the coming three years.

Referring to the government plan to expand the investments of pension funds, Prime Minister Lee said the measure was aimed at expanding the operational scope of financial assets and at stabilizing the stock market. But in actuality, the investments would be freely implemented following strict analysis of their operation by each pension management committee.

Answering a question about the provision of electricity to North Korea in connection with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il`s visit to Seoul, the premier said that the agenda items to be discussed at the forthcoming inter-Korean summit have yet to be decided. He said he expected that a wide range of issues would be discussed at the summit, including the expansion of mutual exchanges and cooperation, tension reduction, and military confidence building.

The prime minister went on to say that the government would work out a basic framework for the 12 major reform tasks within the month and thereafter structural reforms would be implemented in accordance with market principles. With regard to the four large-scale slush funds cases, he noted that the prosecution had already wrapped up its investigation of some of them. Owing to insufficient evidence, others were not probed.

Yonhap