Seoul Agro-Fisheries & Food Corporation, Daegu Public Facilities Corporation, Seoul Facilities Corporation, and Yongin Urban Corporation were selected as outstanding institutions in the 2026 evaluation of local public enterprise management.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety released the results of the "2026 local public enterprise management evaluation (2025 performance)" on the 7th.
The local public enterprise management evaluation has been conducted annually since 1993 with the aim of ensuring that local public enterprises, established to advance local autonomy and improve residents' welfare, fulfill accountable management and pursue sustainable growth through management innovation. This year's evaluation covered 268 local public enterprises (78 corporations, 86 agencies, and 104 directly managed enterprises). To ensure fairness, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) formed a management evaluation team of 147 experts, including professors, certified public accountants, and Certified Public Labor Attorney s, selected through an open call.
This management evaluation focused on strengthening the social responsibility and public nature of local public enterprises by reflecting the national vision of the government of popular sovereignty. Compared with last year, it expanded the weighting of areas that the public and local communities can feel—such as safety, regional coexistence and cooperation, and public services—to encourage local public enterprises to be more proactive in improving people's quality of life, it said.
As a result of evaluating management performance of local public enterprises in five grades (A to E), 20 institutions with evenly strong performance in their core duties, management control, fiscal soundness, and regional coexistence received the top "A" grade.
Seoul Agro-Fisheries & Food Corporation, evaluated as the best institution, was recognized for greatly contributing to price stability by strengthening cooperation with wholesale market corporations and increasing shipments of key price-controlled items. It received an "excellent" grade for nine consecutive years in the FAPAS international food analysis proficiency test for pesticide residues and also earned high marks for digitalizing distribution management. In addition, it spurred farm household economies through 67.7 billion won in direct support to shipping production areas and donations of 1.56 billion won to areas affected by wildfires.
Daegu Public Facilities Corporation introduced real-time anomaly-detection CCTV at wastewater treatment facilities based on a Vision-Language Model (VLM). It also cut costs by localizing equipment parts and expanding waste heat supply. By acquiring an aging underground shopping mall, a long-cherished regional project, it achieved management results that save 15 billion won in annual maintenance budgets.
Seoul Facilities Corporation reduced commissioned project costs by streamlining operations such as cutting unnecessary expenses, and improved its business balance by increasing rental income through new bids for underground shopping districts. It actively adopted AI technology for road infrastructure management and safety monitoring, achieving the safety milestone of zero pedestrian fatalities.
Yongin Urban Corporation was credited with actively promoting urban development projects that contribute to regional revitalization, including completing sales at the second Yongin Techno Valley, starting construction on the Platform City development, and pushing forward the establishment of a semiconductor cluster and cooperation complex. It launched new demand-tailored recreational sports programs and worked to expand user-centered public services, including establishing the nation's first joint changing rooms and showers for families of people with disabilities.
Five institutions with inadequate management control systems or financial soundness were selected as subjects for management diagnosis after deliberation by the Local Public Enterprise Policy Committee. The list includes Ulsan Buk-gu Facilities Management Corporation, which showed weak performance in management efficiency such as management control systems, including organization and personnel management, and business balance ratios, and Incheon Environmental Corporation, which had a higher number of serious safety accidents than similar entities and saw its recent evaluation results decline markedly.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) plans to form a management diagnosis team of experts, including certified public accountants (five per institution), in September, taking into account the underperforming areas of the five institutions, and conduct on-site inspections.
Kim Min-jae, Vice Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS), said, "We will run a substantive management evaluation so local public enterprises can strengthen public service that people can feel and lead local community development, and we will spare no support such as system improvements and tailored consulting."