'Agricultural Innovation, Food Security, and Animal Welfare' Accelerated... Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Organizational Restructuring

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Son Seonhee] The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has carried out an organizational restructuring with the core keywords of 'agricultural innovation and food security.' A new position of Director-General for Animal Welfare and Environmental Policy (at the director-general level) was also established to exclusively handle animal welfare-related policies, which was a campaign promise of President Yoon Seok-yeol during the last presidential election. This is the first restructuring since Minister Jeong Hwang-geun took office, and it was announced that it aims to support the key national tasks in the agricultural sector of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration.

On the 6th, the Ministry announced the legislative notice of the 'Partial Amendment to the Enforcement Rules of the Organization of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and Its Affiliated Agencies' containing these details. Previously, the structure consisted of one Vice Minister (Level 1) and two directors (Director of Planning and Coordination Office, Director of Food Industry Policy Office), but the Vice Minister position was abolished and reorganized into a three-director system (Planning and Coordination Office, Agricultural Innovation Policy Office, Food Security Policy Office).

The former Vice Minister Kwon Jae-han is expected to serve as the Director of the Agricultural Innovation Policy Office, overseeing areas such as ▲smart agriculture ▲farm management stabilization ▲youth farmer development ▲discovery of alternative food materials, and other agricultural innovation fields.

Additionally, Kim Jeong-hee, who recently returned to the ministry after working at the Presidential Office, will move to the Food Security Policy Office as its director, overseeing policies related to food security. Amid ongoing global supply chain instability since the COVID-19 pandemic, food security has emerged as a global issue, and the ministry is expected to prepare related mid- to long-term policies. The Ministry plans to announce the 'Mid- to Long-Term Food Security Enhancement Plan' within the year.

Alongside this, the new position of Director-General for Animal Welfare and Environmental Policy was created to exclusively handle animal welfare-related policies. This is aimed at preventing animal abuse and abandonment, managing safety issues such as dangerous dogs, animal medical care, and responding to administrative demands related to companion animals. The related workforce has also been doubled from about 10 to about 20 personnel.

The revised organizational rules following this restructuring are scheduled to take effect from the 20th. Park Soon-yeon, Policy Planning Officer of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said, "This organizational restructuring plan was prepared considering factors such as the organizational diagnosis results based on the performance of tasks over the past three years and the increase in workload due to the implementation of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration’s national tasks. We expect to establish an organization and functions that can proactively respond to future agricultural policy demands."