Korea converts 513 civil service posts into expert roles un…

President Lee Jae-myung promulgated Presidential Decree No. 36801, the omnibus decree partially amending 23 statutes to expand the professional civil service, on 6 November 2026, with effect from the day of promulgation. The decree converts 513 general-service posts across 23 government bodies into professional civil service positions and creates special provisions allowing ministries to consolidate and reassign those quotas. It is published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Korea (관보) No. 21356 of 6 November 2026, in the presidential decrees section, p. 5.

A single decree, 23 organisational statutes

The instrument, formally titled the partial amendment of 23 statutes for the expansion of the professional civil service, was adopted after deliberation by the State Council and countersigned by Prime Minister Han Seong-suk and Minister of the Interior and Safety Yun Ho-jung. Its stated purpose is to raise the expertise and policy capacity of the civil service by introducing the professional civil service system, governed by the Provisions on the Personnel Management of Professional Civil Servants, in 14 institutions and by transferring a total of 513 general-service posts into an integrated professional quota. The amendments touch the organisational statutes of ministries and their affiliated bodies, together with those of the Trade Commission, the Fair Trade Commission, the Public Procurement Service, the Military Manpower Administration, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and the Korea Post headquarters.

Pooled quotas and exempted rules

For the 14 institutions receiving the new special clause, class-by-class quotas may be set as a single consolidated block, notwithstanding the Provisions on the Organization and Quota of Administrative Agencies. The specific grade distribution is to be fixed by each ministry’s own ordinance, and the same special provisions disapply the articles governing quota allocation and reallocation between headquarters and affiliated bodies. Assignment is not open-ended: professional officials may be posted only to named units. At the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, for example, the eligible units are the AI government policy, service and infrastructure bureaus; at the Ministry of Education, the university support officer under the higher and lifelong education office, the early childhood policy bureau and the AI talent support bureau; at the Ministry of Unification, the inter-Korean talks headquarters is added.

Where the 513 posts come from

Ministry of Science and ICT: 8 posts at headquarters, 16 at affiliated bodies.
Ministry of Education: 7 posts; Ministry of National Defense: 9; Ministry of Unification (affiliated bodies): 2.
Ministry of the Interior and Safety: 13; Ministry of Veterans Affairs: 4; Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism: 16.
Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs: 10; Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy: 60; Trade Commission: 7.
Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment: 38; Ministry of Employment and Labour: 100; Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries: 18.
Ministry of SMEs and Startups: 3; Ministry of Personnel Management: 10; National Data Office: 5; Intellectual Property Office: 105; Public Procurement Service: 4.
Military Manpower Administration: 10; Defense Acquisition Program Administration: 20; Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency: 10; Fair Trade Commission: 20; Korea Post headquarters: 18.

Two-track transition for surplus staff

The supplementary provisions set differentiated sunset dates for residual general-service posts. Where the first transfer examination under the professional civil service rules produces fewer successful candidates than the new quota, surplus general-service posts are deemed to exist separately until 5 November 2028 at the science, interior, culture, personnel, military manpower, defence procurement, disease control and postal bodies. For the industry, trade commission, climate and environment, labour and intellectual property bodies, the corresponding date is 5 November 2029. Those deemed posts shrink by one each time a further candidate passes the competitive recruitment or transfer examination.

The text followed a legislative pre-announcement by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety published on 21 October 2026 in Official Gazette No. 21344, which gave interested parties until 26 October to comment.

Why it matters

The change shifts hiring authority: instead of filling fixed grade slots under uniform staffing rules, ministries gain a flexible pool of expert posts they can allocate to policy units and fill through lateral recruitment. With the Intellectual Property Office alone converting 105 posts and the labour and industry ministries 100 and 60 respectively, the decree marks the largest single reclassification of Korean government positions toward specialist status in the current administrative reorganisation.

Source: Official Gazette of the Republic of Korea (관보), No. 21356, 6 November 2026, Presidential Decrees section, p. 5 (official reference: Presidential Decree No. 36801).