The Overseas Koreans Agency said Monday that the integration of its cooperation center was pursued with the backing of both ruling and opposition parties, and that it is working on measures to protect the job security of center employees.
An agency official said the merger of the Overseas Koreans Cooperation Center into the agency "was not a decision made abruptly based on any specific statement or directive from President Lee Jae-myung."
The Overseas Koreans Cooperation Center is a public institution established in 2023 following the launch of the Overseas Koreans Agency. It has been responsible for training, scholarship, cultural and exchange programs aimed at strengthening the Korean identity of overseas Koreans and deepening their ties with their homeland.
However, the agency said the National Assembly had repeatedly flagged concerns about overlapping duties between the two bodies and inefficiencies in organizational and budget management. On the basis of those concerns, the government pursued the merger through internal review and consultations with related ministries, completing the legal process through an amendment to the Framework Act on Overseas Koreans. The integration is set to take effect Oct. 1.
During the legislative review process, the government explained to the National Assembly its plans to protect the employment of cooperation center staff, and it intends to follow through on those plans after the merger.
The agency said that because the integration involves a change in status from employees of a public institution to civil servants, an open competitive hiring process under relevant laws is unavoidable. It added that this situation differs legally from the earlier transition from a foundation to the cooperation center — a transfer between public institutions to which employment succession provisions under the Framework Act on Overseas Koreans had applied.
The government is consulting with related ministries on a range of measures to minimize job insecurity among existing employees.
"We will secure a separate civil servant headcount corresponding to the cooperation center's staffing level, and ensure that the expertise of existing employees is reflected in the hiring criteria," the agency official said. To prepare for the possibility that some staff may not pass the hiring process, the agency said it is considering follow-up support measures including positions for public-service and fixed-term workers within the agency, one-on-one job counseling, and referrals to private-sector employment.
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