Agency says consultations with National Assembly, budget authorities and Foreign Ministry required

Agency to form dedicated support team led by overseas Koreans cooperation director

[Yonhap]
[Yonhap]

Calls are growing for the government to secure meaningful employment continuity for workers at the Overseas Koreans Cooperation Center, which was dissolved as part of a government reorganization. The Overseas Koreans Agency said Sunday that while it understands the employees' concerns, resolving the issue depends on securing a budget from the National Assembly.

The center's Association of Employees Without Employment Succession recently expressed regret that no concrete plan had been finalized to secure new jobs for 18 staff members, even after the institution was dissolved.

"Of the center's 36 employees, 18 were not able to continue their employment through the Overseas Koreans Agency's competitive career recruitment process," the group said. "Some staff were not even given the chance to apply because the relevant positions were not opened to them in the initial hiring round."

The center was dissolved earlier this month and its operations were transferred to the Overseas Koreans Agency. While the work moved intact to the agency, a state institution, the center's employees — who had been classified as public institution staff rather than civil servants — could not be directly absorbed and were required to go through the agency's competitive career recruitment process.

The agency advertised 37 positions through that process to match the center's headcount but placed no restrictions on who could apply. A total of 437 candidates from government ministries, public institutions and the private sector applied, producing a competition ratio of roughly 12 to 1.

Although the recruitment was intended to protect the jobs of existing center staff, 17 of the 37 employees ultimately were not hired.

The concern had already been raised during the National Assembly's legislative review of the center's dissolution. At a bill review subcommittee meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee in April, the Overseas Koreans Agency said it would pursue a "soft-landing approach to substantially achieve employment stability" by giving maximum preference to the relevant experience of any applicants who failed to pass. The National Assembly passed the related legislation by agreement of the ruling and opposition parties on the basis of that assurance.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Overseas Koreans Agency have since come under criticism for failing to produce a substantive employment stability plan. The agency intends to hire four additional civil servants before the end of the year, offer application opportunities for six vacant public service positions, and pursue recruitment at related public institutions in 2027. All of these measures require separate hiring procedures or budget approval, however, and do not guarantee immediate employment for workers who have already lost their jobs.

An agency official said the agency plans to "establish a channel for ongoing communication with former cooperation center employees, and form a dedicated support team led by the head of the overseas Koreans cooperation division to develop employment stability measures within the agency and ensure smooth coordination among relevant departments."

The official added that next year's public institution hiring "requires securing additional headcount and personnel costs, and is contingent on consultations with the National Assembly, budget authorities, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other relevant agencies, as well as the necessary budget approval."


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