South Korea on Thursday announced its plans to relocate administrative bodies including the National Assembly, ministries and state-run institutions out of the Greater Seoul area, in line with the Lee Jae Myung administration’s pledge for balanced growth.
Prime Minister Han Seong-sook said that most of South Korea's 350 state-run agencies in the Seoul metropolitan area will be moving out of the region with "minimal" exceptions, starting next year, in line with ongoing plans to complete construction of a presidential office by 2029 and a parliament building by 2033 in the de facto administrative capital of Sejong.
Han, in a pangovernmental briefing held at the Government Complex Seoul, did not further elaborate on the relocation plans, but said more detailed plans for the relocation of state-run institutions will be announced in the fourth quarter of this year.
The relocation process will be conducted alongside the merger of the state-run institutions, which would lead to a reduction of them by 109.
Interior Minister Yun Ho-jung said in the briefing that the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, which are both in Greater Seoul, will start the process of relocation to Sejong in 2027, through a law revision.
The headquarters of the national police and prosecution will also relocate once building construction is complete.
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