South Korea Plans to Move 44 Government Agencies and 9,929 Officials to Sejong by 2031

Nearly 10,000 government positions will shift to Sejong

South Korea plans to relocate 44 central government agencies and 9,929 public servant positions from the Seoul metropolitan area to Sejong between 2027 and 2031, bringing foreign affairs, defense, financial policy and major investigative functions into its administrative city. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced the detailed plan on October 13, dividing the move between agencies that can use rented offices and those requiring new buildings.

The first group comprises 27 agencies with 2,995 employees, scheduled to start moving into leased premises in 2027. Another 17 agencies, accounting for 6,934 positions, will transfer after dedicated offices are built, with completion targeted for 2031. That means almost 70% of the planned workforce transfer depends on construction rather than the availability of existing office space.

The government estimates construction costs at 3.1 trillion won. A separate 89.7 billion won estimate covers temporary offices and relocation assistance in 2027 alone, with further rental expenses expected before permanent buildings are ready. Five ministries also require changes to the law that currently exempts them from relocation.

Interior Minister Yun Ho-jung presented the move as a strategy to reduce concentration in the capital region and improve coordination between ministries. The government reviewed 142 administrative agencies in Seoul and its surrounding metropolitan area before drawing up the plan, following relocation guidelines announced on September 3 and consultations with institutions and experts.

The proposal is substantial, but it is not a completed transfer decision for every institution. Legislative amendments, budget approval, office selection and legally required consultations still stand between the announced schedule and implementation. Agencies directly associated with the presidency, several public institutions and bodies providing services to local residents are being treated separately.

Which agencies will move first?

Six agencies are scheduled to relocate in the first half of 2027: the communications commission, the Personal Information Protection Commission, the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, the National Human Rights Commission, the National Education Commission and the Overseas Koreans Agency. English accounts use different names for the communications body, including the Korea Communications Commission and Korea Media and Communications Commission.

The Financial Services Commission will follow in the second half of 2027, alongside 18 other institutions, including bodies affiliated with ministries and advisory committees. The Justice Ministry and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family are also included in the group of 27, but their dates depend on changes to the relocation law.

The distinction matters when reading the schedule: the six agencies in the first half and 19 in the second half account for 25 institutions. The two ministries with dates dependent on legislation bring the planned early group to 27. Their inclusion does not mean their moving dates have already been fixed.

The remaining 17 institutions need facilities suited to investigations, security, oversight or control operations. They include the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Unification and National Defense, the Board of Audit and Inspection, the National Police Agency, the Serious Crime Investigation Agency and the Corruption Investigation Office for High Ranking Officials. Nine affiliated institutions, including the National Institute of Korean History and Korea National Diplomatic Academy, are also in this group.

Accounts differ in naming the prosecution body on the list: the original announcement details identify a Public Prosecution Office, while some English reports call it the Prosecution Service. The relocation proposal does not, by itself, settle the institutional changes behind those labels.

A schedule stretching beyond 2031

The agency transfers form part of a longer sequence of projects. The presidential office in Sejong is targeted for completion in 2029, while the National Assembly's Sejong building is scheduled for 2033. Completing either building should not be confused with a confirmed full transfer of the presidency or legislature.

• 2012: The Prime Minister's Office became the first central government agency to relocate to Sejong.
• 2012 to 2014: An earlier major relocation moved 43 agencies and 14,731 positions, according to several accounts.
• September 3: The government announced guidelines for the second relocation round.
• October 13: The Interior Ministry announced the detailed agency list and phased schedule.
• 2027: The rented office phase is scheduled to begin, alongside proposed funding for preliminary design work.
• 2029: The Sejong presidential office is targeted for completion.
• 2031: Agencies requiring new offices are scheduled to complete their transfers.
• 2033: The National Assembly's Sejong building is targeted for completion.

The later stages extend beyond President Lee Jae-myung's term, which ends in June 2030. Asked about continuity, government officials pointed to their intention to begin construction before that term ends. Starting building work would establish a practical commitment, but it would not remove the need for subsequent budgets and implementation decisions.

The construction estimate is not the full bill

The largest announced expense is the estimated 3.1 trillion won for new government offices. This covers buildings for institutions requiring dedicated facilities and future permanent premises for agencies initially using rented space. The government intends to include approximately 28.6 billion won for preliminary design in the 2027 budget.

The 89.7 billion won estimate for 2027 covers leasing, preparing and operating temporary offices, as well as employee relocation support. Officials expect related rental costs to continue for another three to four years while permanent buildings are completed.

Together, the two principal estimates amount to 3.1897 trillion won, before additional years of temporary office expenses. That arithmetic is not a final project budget. The preliminary design allocation should not simply be added again as an independent expense without clarity about its treatment within the construction estimate.

Costs could change with the location of each agency, facility size, land acquisition and final designs. The government must discuss funding arrangements with the National Assembly, which will also consider the legal changes needed for several transfers.

The future use of the government complexes in Seoul and Gwacheon remains undecided. A study is examining their medium and longer term use. One possibility is to house special local administrative agencies and other institutions currently operating elsewhere in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. No final reuse plan has been announced.

Five ministries need changes to the law

The law governing Sejong's construction currently excludes five ministries from relocation: Foreign Affairs, Unification, National Defense, Justice, and Gender Equality and Family. Moving them requires amendments to the Special Act on the Construction of the Multifunctional Administrative City, also described in accounts as the Special Act on the Construction of Sejong City.

The exclusions followed the Constitutional Court's 2004 decision against the earlier administrative capital law and the subsequent arrangements for building Sejong. Presidential proximity, diplomatic access and security responsibilities helped shape which institutions remained in the capital region.

Three amendments to the Sejong development law are pending in the National Assembly. The government wants changes passed during the regular parliamentary session, although no confirmed vote date is given. The Justice and Gender Equality ministries' schedules are expressly tied to that process.

The Interior Ministry also plans consultations with relevant agencies, public hearings and other statutory procedures before revising and formally announcing the relocation plan. Sejong Mayor Cho Sang-ho has separately called for an Administrative Capital Special Act during the regular session. His request concerns a broader legal basis for Sejong's status and national functions, rather than simply fixing the dates of individual ministry moves.

Diplomacy and defense face coordination decisions

Including the foreign affairs, unification and defense ministries creates practical issues that the headline agency count cannot resolve. The Foreign Ministry works closely with diplomatic missions concentrated in Seoul. Its relocation does not require foreign embassies to move, and no such collective decision has been announced.

The ministry plans to communicate with foreign missions once its own relocation arrangements become more concrete. If embassies stay in Seoul, officials may need to travel between the two cities for meetings. Even missions choosing to relocate would need time to secure land and premises.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff is not included in the announced transfer plan. If it remains in Seoul while the Defense Ministry moves to Sejong, defense policy and military administration would be physically separated from operational command. Concerns have been raised about coordination and readiness, but the announcement does not establish that either would deteriorate.

Further decisions may be needed for the Armed Forces Command and Communications Command, Cyber Operations Command and Defense Counterintelligence Command. Their relocation, or the transfer of selected functions, has not been settled. The Unification Ministry also faces questions about the location of organizations responsible for talks with North Korea.

National Security Council meetings create another scheduling issue. Foreign affairs, unification and defense ministers and their senior staff participate in security consultations with presidential officials. Their relocation arrangements are therefore expected to be coordinated with the Sejong presidential office project. The Presidential Secretariat, Office of National Security and Presidential Security Service are excluded from this round and will be considered separately.

Financial policy will move, but supervision remains separate

The Financial Services Commission is scheduled to leave the Government Complex Seoul for leased offices in Sejong in the second half of 2027. Its affiliated Korea Financial Intelligence Unit is also included. The two bodies have reported staff counts of 340 and 80 respectively, or 420 combined.

The Financial Supervisory Service is not part of this relocation round. Its possible transfer is under separate review, leaving a distinction between moving financial policy bodies and deciding where other supervision and financial institutions should operate.

Concerns focus on access to banks, insurers, brokerages and financial industry associations headquartered in Seoul. An example cited in that debate is an emergency meeting convened by the commission at 2 p.m. on Sunday the 4th, following financial sector cyberattacks. Senior industry representatives attended despite receiving notice only the previous afternoon.

That episode illustrates the value of rapid coordination, but it does not prove that equivalent responses would be impossible from Sejong. The government's position is that financial policy also requires consultation with other ministries and need not remain in Seoul. It promises separate arrangements to maintain market response capacity.

The move has also prompted speculation about reviving an earlier, shelved proposal to redistribute the commission's functions between the finance ministry and Financial Supervisory Service. No merger decision accompanies the relocation announcement. Union expectations about possible moves by policy banks likewise remain expectations, not confirmed transfers.

Sejong prepares offices and support for families

Sejong has identified candidate private office space capable of accommodating about 2,600 people and shared it with the Interior Ministry. Compared with the 2,995 positions in the initial phase, that represents roughly 87% of the stated requirement. It is a useful starting point, but candidate space is not the same as signed leases or premises ready for occupation.

The city plans to expand its relocation support task force under the vice mayor for administrative affairs and establish an Administrative Capital Support Division. Its responsibilities would include office arrangements, employee settlement and coordination with central institutions.

Mayor Cho Sang-ho described the transfer as an opportunity to address the division of government functions between the capital region and Sejong. He also pledged assistance for employees and their families.

We will support the agencies' move-in and the settlement of their employees and families so that this change translates into tangible results.

Proposed measures include coordination with Korea Land & Housing Corporation and private rental housing suppliers, stronger connections between bus rapid transit and local buses, information about schools and medical services, and support for spouses through personnel exchanges. The city also plans closer checks on irregular property transactions and illegal brokerage activity.

Moving expenses and initial settlement assistance are planned, but amounts and payment periods have not been decided. Temporary transportation is being considered for employees unable to move immediately because of housing arrangements or children's school terms. Agencies are also expected to prepare continuity measures so civil complaints, licensing and other public services do not stop during the transfer.

Rental pressure and empty shops tell different stories

Sejong's housing data show a split between purchasing and renting. Figures attributed to the Korea Real Estate Board show apartment sale prices fell 0.93% from the start of the reporting year through the first week of October, while nationwide prices rose 2.89%. Sejong's jeonse prices rose 4.46% over the same period. Jeonse is a Korean rental arrangement based on a large refundable deposit rather than a conventional monthly rent.

Local rental examples suggest pressure on monthly payments too. Reported rents for apartments of about 25 pyeong rose from 600,000 to 750,000 won, an increase of 25%. For apartments of about 34 pyeong, rents rose from 900,000 to 1.2 million won, about 33%. These are brokerage examples, not citywide averages. A pyeong is approximately 3.3 square meters.

Commercial property presents a different picture. Sejong's retail vacancy rate was 22.8% in the second quarter, compared with a national average of 13.4%, a gap of 9.4 percentage points. More employees renting accommodation would not automatically produce an equivalent increase in weekend shopping or family spending.

Commuting patterns help explain that distinction. Korail passenger journeys between Osong and Daejeon stations and Seoul and Yongsan stations rose from 5.832 million in 2021 to 10.842 million in the reported previous year, an increase of 85.9%. Those figures cover all passengers on the specified connections, not just civil servants.

The special housing supply program for relocated agency employees was abolished in 2021, and reinstatement has not been decided. Earlier Seoul to Sejong commuter buses were also scrapped after the Korea Land & Housing Corporation scandal. Whether families settle permanently, rather than employees maintaining weekday accommodation, remains central to housing demand and local commerce.

The government has not demonstrated the population effect

The additional 9,929 positions equal about 67.4% of the 14,731 positions recorded for the earlier relocation. Adding those figures gives 24,660, but that is not a current employment count: they refer to staffing levels at different times.

Reports also differ on the number of organizations already relocated. Several give 43, which would produce 87 after the new round. Another account attributes a total of 44 completed relocations to the National Agency for Administrative City Construction. Without a reconciled institutional list, those totals should not be treated as interchangeable.

The government's central justification is reducing metropolitan concentration while improving policy coordination. Yet it acknowledged that it had not found clear data demonstrating a substantial reduction in Seoul area concentration from the first relocation. The capital region's share of the national population rose from 49.4% in 2012 to 51% in the reported previous year, an increase of 1.6 percentage points.

That increase does not establish what would have happened without Sejong, but it prevents the population figures from being presented as straightforward evidence of successful dispersal. Kim Ha-gyun, head of the Interior Ministry's Government Buildings Management Office, acknowledged the gap when asked about economic effects.

We have not been able to find clear data on that.

Kim said the government would review existing analyses and provide a separate explanation later. Officials also said Sejong's construction was about 60% complete and argued that the relocation should be assessed alongside regional public institution transfers and the government's strategy built around five broad regional zones and three special autonomous provinces.

A separate public institution relocation announcement is being prepared for the fourth quarter. It should not be confused with this administrative agency plan. The National Gwacheon Science Museum, Central Radio Management Service, National Gugak Center and National Library of Korea are excluded because of their direct services to residents. Possible transfers of the Supreme Court and Constitutional Court have not been the subject of substantive consultations and would require separate parliamentary discussion.

Key Points

• The plan covers 44 agencies and 9,929 public servant positions, with transfers scheduled from 2027 through 2031.
• Twenty seven agencies would initially use rented offices; 17 need new buildings and specialized facilities.
• Construction is estimated at 3.1 trillion won, with another 89.7 billion won needed for temporary offices and relocation support in 2027.
• Five ministries require amendments to the law that currently exempts them from relocation.
• The Joint Chiefs of Staff and Financial Supervisory Service are not included in this round.
• Employee support amounts, several office arrangements and the reuse of Seoul and Gwacheon complexes remain undecided.
• The government has promised further analysis after acknowledging a lack of clear evidence on the earlier relocation's economic and population effects.
• The Sejong presidential office and National Assembly building have completion targets of 2029 and 2033 respectively.