Oh Se-hoon's 'Organizational Restructuring' Fully Launched... Integration of 'Housing Supply Functions' and Strengthening of 'Youth Generation Support'

Oh Se-hoon Submits 'Seoul City Administration Reorganization Plan' to Seoul City Council on 17th... "Plan to Seek Prompt Organizational Stability and Council Cooperation"
Housing Construction Headquarters Upgraded to 1st Grade 'Housing Policy Office'... Focus on Function Integration and Unified Supply Expansion
New 'Balanced Development Headquarters' Established by Integrating Urban Regeneration and Regional Development... Balanced Development of Gangnam and Gangbuk and Regional Specialization
'International Exchange Officer' and 'Overseas City Cooperation Officer' Merged into 'International Exchange Officer'
'Labor and Livelihood Policy Officer' Reorganized into 'Fair Coexistence Policy Officer'

At the opening ceremony of the 'Seoul International Garden Expo' held on the 14th at Son Ki-jeong Sports Park in Jung-gu, Seoul, Mayor Oh Se-hoon is delivering a congratulatory speech. The expo, held under the theme "Link Garden, Think Life," will be held until the 20th, dispersed across the park, Malli-dong Plaza, and the Jungnim-dong area. A total of 58 gardens created by artists from seven countries including the Netherlands, the United States, Spain, the United Kingdom, Colombia, France, and Korea participate to comfort citizens exhausted by COVID-19. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is upgrading the existing Housing Construction Headquarters to the Housing Policy Office and elevating the 'Youth Office' from a 'division' level to a 'bureau' level as the 'Future Youth Planning Bureau' to simultaneously achieve real estate price stabilization and rapid housing supply. Additionally, a new 'Balanced Development Headquarters' will be established by integrating the regional development functions of the 'Urban Regeneration Headquarters' and the 'Regional Development Headquarters' to promote balanced development between Gangnam and Gangbuk.

Seoul City will submit the '38th Seoul City Government Organizational Restructuring Plan' based on these details to the Seoul Metropolitan Council on the 17th. The city is undergoing consultation with the council to ensure that the ordinance regarding the establishment of administrative organizations and staffing can be reviewed and approved by the council and implemented by July this year. Mayor Oh plans to seek the council's cooperation for the swift stabilization of the organization and smooth work performance through staff personnel transfers.

First, Seoul City will establish the Housing Policy Office to oversee Mayor Oh’s key pledge of 'speedy housing supply' and integrate dispersed functions. The existing second- and third-level 'Housing Construction Headquarters' will be expanded and strengthened into a first-level Housing Policy Office, while the third-level 'Housing Planning Officer' will be reorganized into the 'Housing Supply Planning Officer,' concentrating organizational capabilities on expanding housing supply. Mayor Oh plans to resolve Seoul’s severe housing difficulties amid continued housing price increases by integrating the housing supply functions, which were previously dispersed across the Urban Planning Bureau and others, into a unified and efficient housing supply function.

A Seoul City official explained, "The function of establishing apartment district unit plans, previously handled by the Urban Planning Bureau, will be transferred to the Housing Policy Office to lay the foundation for expanding housing supply through revitalizing reconstruction," adding, "The 'Urban Planning Standing Planning Team,' currently operating as a team within the 'Urban Planning Division,' will be reorganized into the 'Urban Planning Support Division' to strengthen support for urban and architectural committees and enhance professional review functions."

As part of regional balanced development, the 'Balanced Development Headquarters' will be newly established, and the 'Regeneration Policy Planning Officer' will be reorganized into the 'Balanced Development Planning Officer' to strengthen the driving force for specialized and balanced development by region. Mayor Oh plans to reorganize the Regeneration Policy Division of the Urban Regeneration Office into the Balanced Development Policy Division to oversee the Gangnam-Gangbuk balanced development project and assign it the role of a control tower for specialized and balanced development by region.

Furthermore, the 'Historic Downtown Regeneration Division' will be reorganized into the 'Downtown Project Division' to integrate existing historic downtown regeneration projects and various hub development projects within the downtown area. Functions within the Regional Development Headquarters will be consolidated and reorganized into the Southeast, Northeast, and Western Regional Project Divisions to enable responsible execution of development projects by region.

Establishment of 'Startup Policy Division,' focused nurturing of future industries such as Bio and AI... Establishment of 'Future Youth Planning Bureau' and 'Citizen Cooperation Bureau'

Mayor Oh is also strengthening organizations focused on nurturing future industries such as startups, finance, investment, bio, and AI to create Seoul’s future growth engines. To restructure the startup support system, the existing team-level unit will be expanded into the newly established 'Startup Policy Division,' and scattered startup facilities will be gathered by region and entrusted to private accelerators to build a performance-oriented startup support management system. In particular, the 'Base Growth Promotion Team' within the Economic Policy Office will be reorganized into the 'New Growth Industry Planning Officer' to activate hubs for the Fourth Industrial Revolution industries such as bio and AI and serve as an economic hub for new growth industries through financial and investment support.

A 'Future Youth Planning Bureau' will also be established to exclusively support the '2030 youth generation.' The Youth Office, previously at the division level, will be expanded and elevated to strengthen support for young people facing difficulties such as employment, housing, and economic hardships. The 'Labor and Livelihood Policy Officer,' responsible for supporting workers, small business owners, and social enterprises including socially vulnerable groups, will be reorganized into the 'Fair Coexistence Policy Officer.' The 'Zero Pay Officer' will be reorganized into the 'Small Business Platform Officer' to support the creation of an online and mobile-based digital business environment for small business owners.

Organizational restructuring will also be pursued to efficiently perform citizen participation and public-private cooperation functions. Mayor Oh will consolidate the similar functions of the 'Seoul Democracy Commission' and the 'Seoul Innovation Planning Officer' to establish the 'Citizen Cooperation Bureau.' Specifically, as the Seoul Democracy Commission, a deliberative administrative body (autonomously established organization), will expire on July 24, it will be converted into an advisory body. The happiness promotion functions of the 'Seoul Democracy Officer' and the 'Transition City Officer' will be integrated to establish the Citizen Participation Division.

Subsequently, the 'Social Innovation Officer' and the 'Transition City Officer' will be merged to create the 'Social Cooperation Division,' responsible for solving regional problems through innovation cases. The 'Seoul Cooperation Officer' and the 'Conflict Mediation Officer' will be consolidated to establish the 'Conflict Management and Cooperation Division,' which will handle tasks such as activating public-private cooperation, citizen-participatory public discussions, and conflict prevention and management through conflict impact analysis.

Strategic international exchanges and overseas promotion/marketing organically linked... COVID-19 response 'Support Team' elevated to 'Response Support Division'

Additionally, Mayor Oh, judging that Seoul’s international competitiveness has significantly declined, will integrate the International Exchange Officer and Overseas City Cooperation Officer, previously under the Planning and Coordination Office, into a single department called the International Exchange Officer, placed under the Citizen Communication Planning Officer. Through organic linkage of international exchanges and overseas promotion/marketing, the goal is to strengthen Seoul’s global competitiveness and enhance the city brand value. Accordingly, the Seoul City excellent policy overseas expansion project, previously promoted by the Overseas City Cooperation Officer, will be transferred to the City Brand Officer to unify policy export and overseas promotion functions.

New and strengthened organizations will be established to respond to growing citizen demands in new administrative fields. Due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, the COVID-19 Response Support Team (4th and 5th grade) will be elevated to the division-level COVID-19 Response Support Division (4th grade) to strengthen response capabilities related to vaccination, hospital bed allocation, and screening tests. Additionally, in preparation for expanded vaccination for the general public after July, a 'Vaccination Support Team' will be newly established within the Health and Medical Policy Division.

Mayor Oh also plans to establish a logistics policy division within the Urban Transportation Office to efficiently manage the rapidly increasing volume of daily goods due to the rise in non-face-to-face economic activities caused by COVID-19. This division will be responsible for logistics tasks such as the creation and securing of logistics complexes and delivery support, building a future-oriented smart logistics support system. The existing Taxi Logistics Division will be split into the Taxi Policy Division and the Logistics Policy Division, with the Taxi Policy Division exclusively handling taxi supply and service improvement.

Meanwhile, to address educational disparities and realize equal educational opportunities, an Education Platform Promotion Team (4th and 5th grade) will be newly established within the Lifelong Education Division. This team will be responsible for building and operating an online education platform, providing high-quality educational content for all age groups from students to middle-aged and elderly citizens.

Mayor Oh emphasized, "Through this organizational restructuring, we aimed to establish the execution momentum to realize core tasks such as housing supply, balanced development, urban competitiveness enhancement, and youth support," adding, "Based on the reorganized structure, we will lay the foundation for a Seoul where core city projects, the 2030 youth generation, and all citizens can have hope, preparing for the future and revitalizing Seoul once again."