The number of presidential designated records that can be sealed for up to 30 years among the records of the 20th president is counted to be over 218,000. This is less than the Moon Jae-in administration (393,000 records) but more than the Park Geun-hye administration (204,000 records).
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety's Presidential Records Center stated that on 4th, it received 13.65 million records of the 20th president from the presidential record production agencies. The records include those produced and received by 28 agencies, such as the Office of the President, the Presidential Security Service, and the Agency of Democratic Peaceful Unification, as well as presidential acting authority records from the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the Ministry of Education.
Among all records, electronic records account for 7.77 million, while non-electronic records total 5.87 million. The electronic records include 390,000 electronic documents, 6.63 million administrative information data sets, and 740,000 web records (websites, social media, blogs). The non-electronic records comprise 34,000 paper documents, 692 publications, 1,200 administrative artifacts and gifts, and 5.83 million audiovisual records.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety's Presidential Records Center explained, "The transfer of records, including administrative information data sets and audiovisual records, has increased compared to previous administrations."
Among the transferred records, presidential designated records that can be kept confidential based on designated periods are counted to be 218,423. This is about 1.6% of the total records. The current size of designated records is more than that of the 18th administration (Park Geun-hye administration, 204,000 records) but less than the records of the 16th (Roh Moo-hyun administration, 337,000 records), the 17th (Lee Myung-bak administration, 240,000 records), and the 19th (Moon Jae-in administration, 393,000 records), which is recorded as 'the largest ever'.
Designated records can be kept confidential for up to 15 years (30 years at most for privacy-related records). However, access can be granted with the agreement of two-thirds or more of the National Assembly members or with a warrant from the chief judge of the High Court.
There were 77 classified records that could harm national security if disclosed. Classified records include documents such as the National Security Council (NSC) meeting minutes and national crisis response manuals, which are not disclosed to the public but can be viewed by the next president, the prime minister, and the respective ministers. This number is smaller compared to the 16th (9,700 records), 17th (153 records), 18th (1,100 records), and 19th (2,000 records).
This transfer operation took place over the past 60 days. The transferred presidential records are set to be registered in the Presidential Records Management System (PAMS) after classification, organization by production agency and type, and quality inspection. Additionally, records that can be disclosed will be made available to the public through the Presidential Records Center's website.