Second round of agency relocations pulled from Cabinet agenda amid last-minute review

As the Lee Jae Myung administration pushes to relocate all central government agencies and public institutions out of Seoul, discussions on a second round of relocations — involving bodies such as the Financial Services Commission and the Personal Information Protection Commission — have been put on hold.

The agenda item on the second round of central agency relocations, which had been expected to be taken up as a closed-door item at Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, was dropped from the final agenda.

An official at the Ministry of Interior and Safety's Government Complex Management Headquarters said the item was pulled because "it was determined that the list of agencies slated for relocation needed to be reviewed again."

The Ministry of Interior and Safety is currently leading the relocation effort for central government agencies, while the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is handling the process for public institutions.

Among the central agencies under consideration for relocation are the Financial Services Commission, the Personal Information Protection Commission and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.

Other central agencies that remain in Seoul include the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Unification, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of National Defense. These agencies are explicitly exempted from relocation under the Special Act on the Construction of Administrative Capital City because of their direct ties to presidential governance functions, national security or the inherent nature of judicial administration.

The Ministry of Interior and Safety moved to Sejong in 2017 following an amendment to the act, but subsequent bills to relocate the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family remain pending in the National Assembly.

The decision to pull the item from Tuesday's agenda is widely seen as the government buying time to coordinate a final decision, as resistance from affiliated public institutions has intensified during the push for the second round of relocations. Some observers suggest the government may have concluded there was no need to generate additional controversy amid the public pressure it already faces over various policy issues.

Opposition has been particularly fierce from agencies under the FSC and the Financial Supervisory Service. The FSS union held a joint press conference with the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation union in front of Cheong Wa Dae on Monday to protest the planned relocations.

The unions said they would "block the relocation," warning that moving the agencies out of Seoul "would collapse the financial safety net and risk spreading harm to financial consumers."

In a recent internal survey of 1,538 FSS union members on the relocation, 85.6 percent of respondents said they would consider changing jobs if the move were confirmed, with 69.7 percent saying they would actively consider doing so.

The government maintains that no decision has been made. FSC Chairman Lee Eok-won told a plenary session of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee on Monday that "nothing has been confirmed yet" regarding the relocation of the FSC and the FSS. He added that he understood the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport was preparing and gathering various opinions on the matter.

The FSS union said it had "not yet received any official communication from the government" and that its position would not change, adding that it would "continue to monitor how the discussions unfold and decide on a course of action accordingly."

President Lee's determination to relocate central agencies and their affiliated public institutions out of Seoul remains strong, as reflected in the administration's goal of leaving zero public institutions in the capital.

A special bill on the administrative capital, introduced by lawmaker Kim Jong-min, aims to "relocate all core national functions, including major constitutional bodies and administrative agencies."

A Ministry of Interior and Safety official said the ministry "may need to draw up additional relocation plans depending on the outcome of future Cabinet discussions," suggesting that agencies beyond those already under consideration could also be moved.

As discussions on central agency relocations gain momentum, the relocation of their affiliated public institutions is expected to be addressed in tandem. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which is overseeing the public institution relocation drive, is currently gathering input from the agencies concerned under a principle of minimizing the number that remain in Seoul.