President Lee Jae-myung, as a follow-up step to the "government reorganization," reviewed and approved at a Cabinet meeting a presidential decree to split the Ministry of Economy and Finance into the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the Ministry of Planning and Budget. It comes about three months after a government organization act revision bill that divides the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF)'s "finance" and "budget" functions passed at a Cabinet meeting in Sep. Starting Jan. 2 next year, the Ministry of Finance and Economy will oversee overall economic policy, and the Ministry of Planning and Budget will be in charge of future planning functions.
On the morning of the day in Busan, President Lee Jae-myung presided over a Cabinet meeting and reviewed and approved five bills including the "Organization of the Ministry of Finance and Economy" and the "Organization of the Ministry of Planning and Budget and its affiliated agencies," 56 presidential decrees, 63 promulgations of laws, and four general agenda items. The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF) split is a measure that President Lee and the Democratic Party had signaled since the last presidential election.
This government step is an effort to overhaul government organizations and personnel ahead of the second year in power. In fact, at the Cabinet meeting, amendment decrees to change the organizational rules of each ministry and its affiliated agencies, including the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Science and ICT, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and Ministry of SMEs and Startups, were placed on the agenda and processed. The plan is to push organizational integration and personnel adjustments among ministries and to reallocate office space in line with the new organizational structure.
At the Cabinet meeting, a partial amendment bill to the Act on Compensation, etc., for Persons Related to the May 18 Democratization Movement, which pays compensation to people who suffered sexual violence related to the May 18 Democratization Movement, was also approved. The amount of compensation will be determined considering the degree of harm.