KFTC splits across three Sejong offices as rapid expansion forces staff out of headquarters

The Korea Fair Trade Commission is about to begin life as a divided family in Sejong, as a sweeping staff expansion forces part of its workforce out of the main building. More than 100 employees from the Market Surveillance Bureau are set to relocate next month to a separate office outside Government Complex Sejong.

The move will split the Fair Trade Commission's Sejong presence across three locations, adding to an existing divide between its headquarters and a branch already operating out of the Dankook Sejong Building in Eojin-dong.

According to government sources Sunday, the Fair Trade Commission has secured space in the Bank Building in Eojin-dong, Sejong, to house more than 100 Market Surveillance Bureau employees. The bureau is vacating its current spot at headquarters to make room for new hires and newly created units, with the move-in scheduled for next month.

Although the Bank Building sits within Eojin-dong by administrative designation, it falls closer to the Naseong-dong residential and commercial area in practice. Reaching it from Building 2 of Government Complex Sejong — where the Fair Trade Commission's headquarters is located — requires crossing the entire length of the complex to Building 13 and then crossing a nine-lane road.

The trip takes about five to six minutes by vehicle but roughly 30 minutes on foot — a far cry from the current Dankook Sejong Building annex, which sits just across one road from headquarters.

With more than 100 staff making the move, observers inside and outside the agency have begun describing the new setup as the equivalent of a full regional office — an informal "Naseong-dong branch" in all but name.

Reactions among Market Surveillance Bureau staff are mixed. The relocation adds the inconvenience of having to travel back to headquarters for briefings and meetings with senior officials. At the same time, investigators who frequently travel to Seoul and other cities note that proximity to BRT lines and other transit connections could actually make getting around easier.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission at Government Complex Sejong in Eojin-dong, Sejong [Yonhap]

The Fair Trade Commission's fragmented Sejong footprint reflects a period of rapid organizational growth. The agency is set to launch a second round of expansion in October, adding 237 positions. That follows an earlier increase of 167 staff in the first quarter of this year, which included adding standing and non-standing commissioners and establishing a new franchise and retail review division along with a Gyeonggi-Incheon regional office.

Once both rounds are complete, the Fair Trade Commission's total headcount will rise from 647 — the figure before the Lee Jae Myung administration took office — to 1,052, an increase of more than 400 in barely a year.

The expansion centers on strengthening investigation and economic analysis capabilities. A 40-person priority investigation planning unit will be established under the investigation management division. The economic analysis function, previously organized at the division level, will be upgraded and restructured into a 37-person Economic Analysis Bureau, and a new training unit will be created to develop the growing pool of investigators.

The organizational growth has made finding office space a challenge in its own right. With more than 100 staff to relocate — too many for a small annex but not enough to fill a large nearby commercial building — securing a single suitable space proved difficult, according to people familiar with the matter.

Within the agency, the outcome has nonetheless drawn quiet praise as a reasonable result. As the government pushes the relocation of public institutions to regional cities as a core policy priority, competition for office space in Sejong is expected to intensify as more agencies move in. Officials had at one point worried that a lack of suitable options might force the bureau across the Geum River.

The space problem may be solved, but the harder work lies ahead. With the headcount up by more than 400 in a year and investigation and economic analysis functions significantly bolstered, expectations for the agency will rise accordingly. The real test for the Fair Trade Commission is whether it can translate its expanded size into concrete enforcement and investigation results — not merely a bigger organization.

y2k@heraldcorp.com