Understanding the New Task Force for Public Institution Relocation: What It Means for Local Development

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has begun forming a task force (TF) to restart relocating public institutions to regional areas. As the government intensifies discussions about a second round of relocations, the ministry plans to assemble a roughly 20-member working group to review candidate agencies, refine institutional arrangements, and coordinate with other ministries.

Aju Business Daily reported on the 24th that the ministry is setting up a TF to handle the operational work of regional relocations and is finalizing detailed operating plans. The TF will number about 20 members. Its duties will include analyzing candidate agencies, reviewing functional redeployment, mapping links to innovation cities, and consulting with other ministries and local governments.

The TF is intended to proactively align the ministry’s internal implementation system with the government’s second-round relocation policy. Under the Innovation City Act, heads of relocating agencies must draft local relocation plans; the responsible administrative authorities review and adjust those plans before submitting them to the minister of land, infrastructure and transport. The Local Era Committee then deliberates and grants final approval.

The ministry moved to establish a separate TF after concluding that discussions on the second round of relocations have shifted from policy review to execution planning. In its budget overview for this year, the ministry said it included funding for “policy research on the second relocation of public institutions,” and last September it issued guidelines on drafting local relocation plans for agencies preparing to move.

A ministry official said, “This TF is not a separate, dedicated unit; it was formed to break down silos between departments within the existing structure and to generate greater synergy.”