President-elect Reviews Integration of Ministries

As the structure and the lineup of the presidential transition committee were announced Tuesday, Presidential-elect Lee Myung-bak’s restructuring plan for the central government is also slowly revealing its shape.

The structure of the new government is expected to take shape earlier than expected in mid-January since the president-elect is planning to complete his restructuring plan for the government before he takes office on February 25, 2008.

During an interview with the Dong-A Ilbo, Grand National Party Chairman Kang Jae-sub, who had a meeting with Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday, said, “After passing the revision of the government organization act, which contains President-elect Lee’s plan for government restructuring, we will put pieces together in preparation for the parliamentary hearing. In order to restructure government organizations at an early stage, we will launch a parliamentary group to discuss the matter with both the ruling and opposition parties.”

The president-elect is reviewing strengths and weaknesses of five tentative plans, including ones proposed by the Graduate School of Public Administration at Seoul National University, the Hansun Foundation for Freedom and Prosperity, the task force of the GNP and Ahn Byong-man, president of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. All plans address the need for a bold restructuring of the incumbent government’s organizations, saying that existing ministries should be specialized and integrated in accordance to their functions.

As a result, among the economy-related ministries, the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministry of Planning and Budget, the Fair Trade Commission, the Financial Supervisory Service and the Financial Supervisory Commission will most likely be the subject of the restructuring. The Ministry of Finance and Economy will expectedly focus on forming economic policies.

According to Seoul National University’s plan, the Ministry of Finance and Economy should no longer handle monetary policies so that it can concentrate on establishing economic policies and measures to cope with the changing economic situation. Meanwhile, the GNP’s plan proposes to establish the Ministry of Economic Strategy and the Ministry of Finance and to integrate the functions of the Fair Trade Commission and the economic-policy related functions of the Ministry of Finance and Economy into the Ministry of Economic Strategy.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Ministry of Unification is also likely to be integrated into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Unification. A senior official of the GNP said, “The majority of politicians believe that there is no need to have two separate diplomatic lines – the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Ministry of Unification – since issues involving North Korea, such as six-party talks, are key diplomatic matters.”

Ministries directly associated with business activities, such as the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Information and Communication, are also likely to be merged. According to Seoul National University’s plan, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy will shrink its industry-related policy making functions and be merged with the Small and Medium Business Administration in order to strength its support for small and medium-sized businesses, and the Ministry of Information and Communication will be integrated into the Broadcasting and Communication Commission. The GNP’s plan recommends integrating the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Information and Communication, and the Ministry of Science and Technology into the Ministry of Science and Industry.

In addition, the merger between the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family are also being reviewed.

The Government Information Agency is also expected to be merged with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in accordance with the campaign pledge of Lee.

ddr@donga.com