The government held a "press briefing on transfers of administrative and public institutions and functional reforms of public institutions" on the 3rd and said it would transfer the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family to Sejong in the first half of next year. It said it would finalize in the fourth quarter whether to transfer the Financial Services Commission and the Personal Information Protection Commission, which are currently in Seoul.
On the day, Prime Minister Han Seong-sook said, "Among central administrative agencies located in the capital area, we will prioritize transferring to Sejong City, starting in the first half of next year, those with large transfer scale and spillover effects." Minister of the Interior and Safety Yoon Ho-jung added, "Starting in the first half of 2027, we will sequentially push transfers, giving priority to agencies such as the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family that are large in scale or offer significant transfer effects."
The transfer of central administrative agencies to local areas began in earnest under the Roh Moo-hyun administration to ease concentration in the capital area. From 2012 to 2021, 43 agencies transferred from the capital area to other regions. Agencies remaining in the capital area now number 16, including the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Unification, the Ministry of National Defense, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC), and the Korea Communications Commission (KCC).
Minister Yoon Ho-jung said the government would delete "agencies excluded from local transfers" under the Special Act on the Construction of Sejong City. Agencies excluded from local transfers under Article 16 of this law are the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, ▲ the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ▲ the Ministry of Unification ▲ the Ministry of National Defense. These ministries have been allowed to remain in the capital area due to their high degree of operational linkage with the president, the National Assembly, and the judiciary. Yoon said, "For agencies that require separate office buildings, such as the Prosecution Service and the Korean National Police Agency, we will pursue transfer after new buildings are constructed."
It is said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Unification will be reviewed for local transfer in line with 2030, when the presidential office transfers to Sejong, and 2033, when the National Assembly building is completed.
However, the government did not disclose whether agencies such as the Financial Services Commission and the Personal Information Protection Commission would transfer to Sejong. The Minister said, "Agencies not mentioned today are not excluded from consideration as targets for local transfer." The Minister added, "We will finalize the list of agencies to be transferred in the fourth quarter."