Yongin City Promotes Organizational Restructuring to Expand Autonomy

Institutionalization of New Growth Strategy Bureau and Future Industry Promotion Team
Plan to Separate Overlarge Departments to Improve Operational Efficiency

Yongin City in Gyeonggi Province announced on the 11th that it will proceed with an organizational restructuring to expand its autonomy by separating large-scale departments and bureaus and regularizing temporary organizations.

The city explained that this organizational restructuring initiative follows the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's legislative notice last year on the amendment of the "Regulations on Administrative Organizations and Staffing Standards of Local Governments," which includes measures to expand local government organizational authority.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety's amendment includes the abolition of the cap on the number of department and bureau-level organizations based on population size, removal of the requirement to consult with the Ministry when establishing temporary bureau-level organizations, and removal of consultation requirements when establishing support organizations (grade 4 and 5) for district heads of grades 3 and 4 in cities with populations over 1 million. The amendment is scheduled to be promulgated in March.

The city plans to complete the organizational restructuring in the first half of the year by gathering opinions from related organizations such as the city council and the public officials' union to efficiently respond to increasing administrative demands.

Currently, Yongin City's organization has established eight departments and bureaus in accordance with the current law, which stipulates that cities with populations over 1 million should have between six and eight departments and bureaus. However, even if the cap on departments and bureaus is abolished, the city plans not to significantly increase the number of organizations but to reorganize some large and overburdened departments and bureaus by reallocating functions and dividing tasks.

Additionally, temporary organizations such as the New Growth Strategy Bureau, operating until December, and the Future Industry Promotion Team, operating until June next year, will be organized as regular departments.

Lee Sang-il, Mayor of Yongin City, said, "To develop Yongin City, with a population of 1.1 million, into a better place to live, it is important for the city to respond swiftly to the various administrative demands that have increased to the level of a metropolitan city." He added, "We will create and implement an efficient organizational restructuring plan in consultation with the city council and others."