"Full Review"... Disease Agency Promotion Tangled from the First Step

'No Transfer of National Institute of Health and Infectious Disease Research Center to Ministry of Health and Welfare'
Emphasized "Enhanced Infectious Disease Response Capability" but Criticized for Revealing Departmental Self-Interest

Jung Eun-kyung, Director of the Central Disease Control Headquarters (Director of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency)

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] On the 5th, President Moon Jae-in ordered a reconsideration of the transfer of the research institute, which had caused controversy during the process of promoting the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) to a bureau-level agency, resulting in the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s organizational reform plan starting over from scratch.

As a group of experts expressed negative reactions to the reform plan and criticisms arose suggesting that bureaucratic self-preservation and departmental selfishness might have been underlying the controversy, the president personally stepped in to manage the situation. This is interpreted as a judgment that if the controversy expanded amid heightened public attention to quarantine authorities during the COVID-19 response, it could potentially dampen efforts.

Park Neung-hoo, 1st Deputy Head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (Minister of Health and Welfare)

President Moon instructed, according to Blue House spokesperson Kang Min-seok, "to conduct a full review of the plan to transfer the National Institute of Health and the Infectious Disease Research Center, currently under the KDCA, to the Ministry of Health and Welfare as part of the expanded and reorganized Infectious Disease Research Institute." The briefing was held suddenly without a prior schedule.

The full review is interpreted as a signal not to transfer the National Institute of Health to the Ministry of Health and Welfare. According to the government organization amendment plan released by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety on the 3rd, the KDCA is to be promoted to an external agency under the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the National Institute of Health, currently under the KDCA, is to be moved back under the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The National Institute of Health consists of the Life Science Center, which oversees infectious diseases as well as intractable, brain, and cardiovascular diseases, and the Genome Center, which researches genomics and bioinformatics.

Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency in Osong, Chungbuk

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the KDCA had tentatively agreed on both the plan to make the KDCA an independent external agency and to transfer the research institute back to the Ministry of Health and Welfare. They had also been promoting the establishment of an Infectious Disease Research Institute to strengthen infectious disease response capabilities, which was also planned to be placed under the National Institute of Health and transferred to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Before the announcement of this plan, some experts criticized it, saying it would separate essential research functions for infectious disease response. Professor Lee Jae-gap of Hallym University Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital’s Infectious Diseases Department said on the radio program 'Kim Kyung-rae’s Strongest Current Affairs' that "for the KDCA to function, someone has to conduct research, create data, and develop sources, but those functions would be significantly weakened."

It remains uncertain whether the plan to transfer the National Institute of Health to the Ministry of Health and Welfare will be withdrawn even if a review is conducted as per the president’s instruction. It is possible to keep the National Institute of Health under the KDCA as it is now and have an Infectious Disease Research Institute under the institute, or to proceed with the transfer of the National Institute of Health while moving only the newly established Infectious Disease Research Institute under the KDCA. KDCA Director Jeong Eun-kyeong also stated at a briefing the day before that even if the current National Institute of Health separates from the KDCA, a dedicated research organization and personnel for the KDCA will still be necessary in the future.

As discussions to promote the KDCA to an external agency to strengthen its independence and expertise gained momentum due to the COVID-19 crisis, conflicts surrounding the organizational reform plan have made it difficult for the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Health and Welfare to avoid criticism. This is because unnecessary controversy was stirred up while the COVID-19 situation was still ongoing, with patients steadily appearing mainly in the metropolitan area.