Yoon calls for more agile, flexible government

President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks at a Cabinet meeting at the Sejong government complex Tuesday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

President Yoon Suk Yeol stressed the need to drastically change the "mindsets" of public officials as he called for major reforms to enable a more "agile and flexible" government in a Cabinet meeting Tuesday.

"It's difficult to survive the economic war unless the mindsets of public officials change," said Yoon in his opening remarks at the meeting held at the government complex in Sejong. It was the first time he presided over a Cabinet meeting at the Sejong complex since Sept. 27 last year.

Focusing on governmental reform plans, Yoon emphasized that the public sector must first change in order to innovate in line with global standards and to encourage deregulation and meritocracy.

"It takes three years for our competitors and eight years for us to build a semiconductor factory," said Yoon. "In order to survive global competition, we must boldly break away from the framework of existing practices and regulations."

He added, "We need to be reborn as a more agile and flexible government."

The presidential office reported 20 national policy tasks to prioritize this year at the Cabinet meeting. It called for governmental reform to be added to the president's previously proposed three major reforms in labor, education and pension, key tasks for the Yoon administration.

Yoon proposed introducing a "flexible personnel system," comparable to that at the private sector to "bring vitality into public service by introducing an unconventional performance-based system."

This could include the removal of annual salary caps for certain agencies such as the new Korea Aerospace Administration. While such a performance-based salary system won't be applicable to all agencies, it may be effective in sectors where it may be difficult to attract top talent, such as aerospace research, under the current civil servant salary system.

Discussions were held on the year-end business report involving 1,500 individuals from both the public and private sectors, according to the presidential office, and reflecting Yoon's intentions to revitalize the economy, nurture future food sources and pursue major reforms as he enters the second year of his five-year administration.

During the Cabinet meeting, Yoon noted that the ministries had reviewed follow-up measures to the agreements and investments cinched during his visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Switzerland last month.

"Exports, investment attraction and advanced science and technology cooperation are at the core of economic diplomacy," said Yoon. "The way to support economic diplomacy is to make Korea an innovation hub and to align our systems with the global standards of well-to-do and advanced countries."

Other key policy tasks of the administration reported in the meeting included the building of a "digital platform" government, eradication of drug crimes, transportation innovation such as the GTX and promotion of Korean culture and tourism.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]