Korea expands presidential Sejong office team as construction nears

The interior ministry said Tuesday it will upgrade the head of the team building the president's Sejong office to the senior civil service and add five staff, as South Korea pushes to complete its administrative capital.

The revision to the National Agency for Administrative City Construction's organisational rules, approved at a Cabinet meeting and effective the same day, covers the Presidential Sejong Office Construction Team, a temporary unit that operates until Dec. 28, 2028. Its chief, currently a director-level official held by Kim Ju-sik, will be appointed from the Senior Civil Service rather than filled concurrently by the agency's facilities bureau chief. The ministry said the change is meant to speed up projects tied to completing Sejong as the administrative capital.

The five new posts comprise one senior civil service position, one Grade 5, one Grade 6 and two Grade 7 officials. A sixth post, a Grade 4 position, will be created by temporarily raising the grade of an existing Grade 4 or Grade 5 slot on the agency's payroll. The agency's total staff of 142 will fall to 141, with general-service positions dropping to 140, under a separate adjustment in the same decree.

The government has set a target of completing design work and breaking ground in 2027, with occupancy planned for August 2029. The office is one of the projects under the national land transformation strategy, which also schedules the National Assembly's Sejong building for completion in the second half of 2033.

"We will actively communicate with the public and experts and do our utmost so that the president's Sejong office can be built as a landmark building befitting our national stature and one that instils pride in the people," said Kang Ju-yeop, head of the National Agency for Administrative City Construction.

A design competition held from January to April drew 17 entries, and a consortium led by Haean Architecture was selected for its proposal titled "Landscape of Wisdom."