Korea’s National Planning Commission begins reform drive

The Presidential Commission for National Planning was officially launched June 16 to outline the policy roadmap for President Lee Jae-myung’s five-year term. Without a transition committee due to an early election, the commission is charged with setting national priorities and direction. Compared to the former Moon Jae-in administration’s advisory body of 34 members, the new commission has expanded to 55 and dropped “advisory” from its name, signaling a stronger focus on implementation and swift action.

The commission’s agenda includes redistributing concentrated powers and restructuring government to make South Korea a global top-three AI leader and better tackle the climate crisis. It will refine Lee’s proposed reforms, such as splitting the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s functions, separating prosecutorial powers, and creating a new Ministry of Climate and Energy, through a task force to produce detailed plans.

Over 60 days, the commission will trim 247 campaign pledges to a list of 100 priorities. It must assess financial feasibility and potential side effects to eliminate unrealistic promises. Fully implementing Lee’s pledges would cost about 210 trillion won over five years, but worsening fiscal conditions make this impractical. Reforms, including organizational changes that the previous administration failed to enact, will aim to create a smaller, more efficient government.

The commission must avoid past transition team mistakes, such as overambition, impatience, internal conflict, and releasing premature policies that disrupted governance. Some previous teams acted like “occupying forces,” pressuring civil servants or skipping briefings.

Since taking office, President Lee has stressed pragmatism and unity. On his first day, he launched an emergency economic task force and met with leaders of major conglomerates to focus on economic recovery. The commission should follow this practical approach, avoiding divisive policies and be willing to drop campaign promises if necessary. Its primary goal must be to develop a long-term reform roadmap that ends stagnation and secures future growth.