Agriculture ministry to reduce affiliated agencies by three with creation of 'Korea Livestock Promotion Corp.'

Four port authorities to merge into single 'Korea Port Authority'; regional offices to become four branches

Three maritime museums to be folded into 'Korea Ocean Culture Promotion Institute'; five port subsidiaries also to unify

Park Su-jin, president of the Korea Institute for Animal Products Quality Evaluation, speaks at the institute's second AX Promotion Task Force meeting of 2026, held Friday at its Sejong headquarters. [Korea Institute for Animal Products Quality Evaluation]
Park Su-jin, president of the Korea Institute for Animal Products Quality Evaluation, speaks at the institute's second AX Promotion Task Force meeting of 2026, held Friday at its Sejong headquarters. [Korea Institute for Animal Products Quality Evaluation]

The Korea Institute for Animal Products Quality Evaluation, the Korea Animal Health Products Association and the Korea Livestock Environment Management Institute are to be merged into a single entity tentatively named Korea Livestock Promotion Corp. The port authorities of Busan, Incheon, Ulsan and Yeosu-Gwangyang are also to be consolidated into a body to be called Korea Port Authority. The moves are part of a broader plan to reduce the number of public institutions under the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs by three and those under the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries by 11.

The government announced the plan Thursday in a joint release by related ministries, calling it a "public institution functional reform initiative." The plan calls for cutting the total number of public institutions by 109 through strategic restructuring, consolidation of overlapping functions, and mergers of subsidiaries and smaller agencies.

Under the agriculture ministry, the centerpiece of the reform is the consolidation of livestock-sector agencies. The institute for animal products quality evaluation, which has a staff of 502, the animal health products association with 1,286 employees, and the livestock environment management institute with 57 staff will be combined to form the tentatively named Korea Livestock Promotion Corp. Merging the three agencies reduces the number of public institutions under the agriculture ministry by two.

The Korea Rural Community and Agriculture Promotion Institute will also absorb the Korea Rural Hope Foundation. The promotion institute has a staff of 176, while the rural hope foundation has 11. Together, these mergers bring the total reduction under the agriculture ministry to three institutions.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries will cut 11 affiliated agencies, with the port sector seeing the most sweeping changes. The four port authorities — Busan Port Authority, Incheon Port Authority, Ulsan Port Authority and Yeosu Gwangyang Port Authority — will be merged into the tentatively named Korea Port Authority. After the merger, policy and planning functions will be unified under the new body, while the existing regional port authorities will be converted into four regional branches responsible for locally tailored operations. The government said the consolidation will strengthen coordination among regional ports, reduce excessive competition between port authorities and boost international competitiveness through jointly developed overseas hubs.

The subsidiaries of the port authorities will also be merged. Five companies — Yeosu Gwangyang Port Management, Ulsan Port Management, Busan Port Security Corp., Incheon Port Security Corp. and Yeosu Expo Management — will be combined into a body tentatively named Korea Port Security and Facilities Corporation, consolidating security and facility management functions currently scattered across individual ports into a single institution.

Marine exhibition and visitor facilities will also be reorganized. The National Uljin Marine Science Museum, the National Incheon Maritime Museum and the National Maritime Museum will be merged into a body tentatively named Korea Ocean Culture Promotion Institute. The government said it plans to consolidate exhibition and visitor institutions in fields including culture, science, maritime affairs, land and agriculture on a ministry-by-ministry basis to reduce functional overlap and curb rising operating costs.

The National Marine Biodiversity Institute of Korea will be absorbed into the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST), and the Korea Aids to Navigation Technology Institute will be merged into the Korea Maritime Transportation Safety Authority (KOMSA). In total, the oceans and fisheries ministry will see 11 institutions eliminated, including the port authorities, their subsidiaries and the maritime exhibition and visitor agencies.

The government said each ministry will now draw up detailed functional reform plans for individual agencies, which will then go through deliberation and approval by the Public Institution Management Committee before the mergers proceed. Employees of the consolidated institutions — excluding executive officers — will be guaranteed job continuity, and the government said it will manage compensation structures to ensure that workers' pay and benefits do not decline as a result of the mergers.


adastra@heraldcorp.com