Seoul City to Lay Off 1,300 Officials

Seoul City will lay off 1,300 officials and merge several administrative bureaus by 2010. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon unveiled the reorganization and layoff plan on Thursday. He said the metropolitan government will cut staff by 1,300 or 12.1 percent starting this year, from the current 17,600 to 9,460 in 2010. The plan is part of a program to slim down the city government and improve efficiency and follows an -- in Korea -- unprecedented decision to fire underperforming staff last month.

Seoul City will cut staff of bureaus that become redundant as the administrative environment changes and will gradually scrap less important divisions through outsourcing to civilian agencies. The city will also disband 10 divisions, bureaus and headquarters with overlapping functions and create three new bureaus and headquarters for design and environment, which it says need more administrative support. Under the reorganization plan, the number of bureaus will be cut from 12 to nine. The city government will start implementing the plan in January after consultation with the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs and revising related regulations.


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