[Seminar] Strategy and Direction for Public Institution Reform

At this seminar, co-hosted by the Center for Free Enterprise (CFE), member of the National Assembly Kodongjin Go, the Korean Public Choice Society, and the Korean Association for Local Public Enterprises, participants discussed the direction of reform from the perspective that public institutions, which have expanded over the past 10 years to 331 organizations employing 420,000 people, should be redesigned around their functions rather than simply reduced in number. Professor Jin Park of the KDI School of Public Policy and Management, who delivered a presentation, diagnosed the essence of public-sector expansion as a “four-way collusive structure” among politicians, competent ministries, labor unions, and the public, and proposed minimizing prior controls while shifting to ex post controls centered on management evaluation. Gwang yong Go, Policy Director at the Center for Free Enterprise (CFE), citing the failed LH integration as a case in point, presented a sophisticated reform approach in which mergers and abolitions, separation and maintenance, and privatization would be applied selectively according to national necessity and the need to promote competition, rather than pursuing unconditional integration simply because functions are similar. In the discussion that followed, various issues were examined, including the introduction of relative performance and management evaluation and the feasibility of a comprehensive diagnosis by functional unit, making the seminar a meaningful occasion to explore reform directions toward a “small but capable government.”

Thank you to everyone who attended.

◇ Date and Time: July 13, 2026 (Mon), 10:00 a.m.

◇ Venue: National Assembly Members’ Office Building, Seminar Room 2

◇ Hosts: member of the National Assembly Kodongjin Go, Center for Free Enterprise (CFE), Korean Public Choice Society, Korean Association for Local Public Enterprises

▶ Moderator

- Dongseok Ok, Chairman of Open Society Forum

▶ Presentations

- Jin Park, Professor, KDI School of Public Policy and Management

- Gwang yong Go, Policy Director, Center for Free Enterprise (CFE)

▶ Discussion

- Youngshin Kim, President, Korean Public Choice Society

- Gwangbin Bae, President, Korean Association for Local Public Enterprises

- Sooyoung Lee, Professor, Graduate School of Public Administration, Seoul National University

▶ Attending members of the National Assembly

- Kodongjin Go

- Sanghyun Yoon

- Eunhee Cho

- Jinsook Lee

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Original title: [세미나] 공공기관 개혁의 전략과 방향

Author: Center for Free Enterprise (CFE)

Date: 2026-07-13

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=seminar&pn=1&idx=29262