Gyeonggi Province Cuts 5 Senior Positions; Will Vacancies in 7 Cities and Counties Be Filled?

Attention is focused on whether personnel appointments for seven cities and counties in the province that have remained vacant for extended periods will be normalized, as Gyeonggi Province plans to reduce five senior positions in its provincial headquarters through an organizational restructuring expected to be implemented in January next year.

According to Gyeonggi Province on the 20th, the province announced its first organizational restructuring plan for the ninth-term democratic administration, reducing the current 30 divisions and bureaus to 25 and adjusting 151 departments to 141. This represents a decrease of five divisions/bureaus and 10 departments, while supervisor positions remain at five.

The province will undergo legislative notification from the 21st to 26th and submit the organizational restructuring plan to the regular session of the Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly opening on the 3rd of next month. Once the provincial assembly review and subsequent procedures such as ordinance revisions are completed, implementation is possible in connection with regular personnel appointments in January next year. However, the specific implementation date has not been confirmed.

The focus of this restructuring is to integrate similar and redundant functions while strengthening organizations in key areas such as finance and semiconductors.

The Transportation Bureau, Railroad and Port Logistics Bureau, and Gyeonggi International Airport Promotion Task Force will be integrated into a Transportation Innovation Division. The Balanced Development Planning Division, Peace and Cooperation Bureau, and Gyeonggi Northern Special Autonomous Province Promotion Task Force will be reorganized as the Peace and Balanced Development Planning Division.

A new Finance and Planning Bureau to oversee financial functions and a Fair Economy and Social Bureau that combines fair economy, special judicial police, delinquent tax collection, and administrative review functions will also be established. Economic and industry-related functions will be integrated into an Economic and Industry Division, with a new Semiconductor Advanced Industry Planning Officer position created.

Notably, the scale of reduction in senior positions due to this organizational restructuring aligns with the scale of vacancies in vice administrative heads in cities and counties that have persisted for extended periods.

The province has delayed personnel appointments for vice administrative heads in seven cities and counties: Seongnam, Siheung, Gwangju, Icheon, Yangju, Pocheon, and Gapyeong. As follow-up personnel appointments have not been made at usual times due to reasons including the province's organizational restructuring schedule, vacancies in vice administrative head positions have been prolonged in some cities and counties.

Governor Choo Mi-ae also suggested during the National Assembly's state audit on the 13th that it would be desirable to complete organizational restructuring before conducting personnel appointments, signaling January appointments next year.

Accordingly, analysts note that the personnel reallocation demand arising from the five reductions in senior provincial headquarters positions could lead to filling vice administrative head vacancies.

Comparing by numbers alone, the five reductions in senior provincial headquarters positions correspond to five of the seven vice administrative head vacancies. The remaining two positions could also be filled through promotions or other personnel adjustments, calculations suggest.

However, the reduction of five senior positions does not mean all corresponding personnel will move into vice administrative head roles. This is because the ranks of division heads and bureau heads differ, and multiple personnel factors such as position changes, promotions, and retirements of existing executives work together during the organizational integration process.

Governor Choo Mi-ae previously stated during the National Assembly's Administrative Safety Committee state audit of the province on the 13th that regarding delays in vice administrative head personnel appointments, "It is desirable to conduct personnel appointments after completing organizational restructuring," and "Given unavoidable circumstances, we decided to do this in January next year."

Regarding the situation, she explained that "We first sought opinions on whether we could conduct personnel appointments in November," while adding that "once one person moves, the entire personnel structure must also shift accordingly."