Foreign Ministry First-Degree Officials May Lose Standing Guarantee

The organizational structure of the Foreign Ministry, which has as many as 118 high-ranking officials, whose positions are equivalent to first degree positions in other administrations, will be considerably overhauled.

Yoon Sung-sik, chairman of the president’s advisory government renovation and decentralization committee, announced on July 1 that the committee is drawing up a plan for improving the competitiveness and the renovation of the Foreign Ministry, which includes eliminating the standing guarantee for high-level officials in the Foreign Ministry.

According to the plan, the “honorable treatment” given to 118 12th-14th degree officials, including the Foreign Ministry planning and management section chief, assistant secretary, and ambassadors to foreign countries (equivalent to the first degree in other administrations) will end.

The Foreign Ministry has operated a “waiting retirement system” which allows first-degree and higher officials to be on the waiting list for their next appointment for a year unless they are appointed, unlike other administrations where most officials retire automatically.

The Government Renovation Committee will amend the law of foreign affairs officials to abolish this system.

Normalizing the function of the Foreign Affairs and Security Research Institute, which was used as a waiting room for next-term appointees, and eradicating a system that allows the presence of two or three director-generals even though only one is officially appointed at that position, are included in the plan.

With these changes, a “quota transfer system,” which exchanges officials up to eight percent of the quota between the headquarters and embassies and legations abroad, will also be modified. This system caused an excessive number of high-ranking officials to remain in the headquarters, and embassies and legations abroad to have unnecessary low-ranking officials.

In addition, a plan to create a position taking full charge of consular affairs, which is avoided within the ministry, and a plan to recruit civil experts to fill foreign affairs positions in the special language using area such as the Middle East and Africa, are undergoing a review process.

Yoon, the chairman, said, “The purpose of making these changes is to reduce the number of high-level officials and increase the number of working-level officials, so that we can utilize embassies and legations personnel promptly and timely, in case of urgent needs.”

“The plan will be completed around August at the earliest, after considering the results of the audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection and the parliamentary investigation into state affairs, and will take into effect starting from next year”, he added.

Jae-Myoung Lee egija@donga.com