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Personnel Ministry announces 'comprehensive overhaul' of on-call system

Published: 24 Nov. 2025, 17:05

Chun Ji-yoon, the director of the Government Ethics and Discipline Bureau at the Ministry of Personnel Management, briefs reporters at the Government Complex Sejong on the ministry’s proposed revision to civil service duty regulations on Nov. 24. [MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT]

Some government officials will soon be able to work on-call shifts from home as artificial intelligence (AI) will handle most calls that come at night and during holidays.

The Ministry of Personnel Management announced on Monday that it has drafted a revision to the national civil service regulations that reflects these changes.

Government agencies equipped with unmanned electronic security devices, manned security systems or communication networks will be able to introduce work-from-home on-call shifts at their own discretion without prior consultation.

Previously, agencies needed advance approval from both the Ministry of Personnel Management and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

“Switching to remote on-call duty will allow officials to manage their time more efficiently, and those with caregiving responsibilities will be able to look after their children while fulfilling their duties from home,” said Chun Ji-yoon, the director of the Government Ethics and Discipline Bureau at the Ministry of Personnel Management.

Minister of Personnel Management Choi Dong-seok visits the central on-call command room at the Government Complex Sejong, where he meets on-call staff and discusses improvements to the government’s duty system with representatives of the State Public Officials' Labor Union. [MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT]

Agencies such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice, which operate 24-hour situation rooms, will also no longer need separate on-call offices. Integrated on-call duty will be permitted when multiple agencies share the same government complex or are in adjacent buildings. Until now, each agency had to station its own on-call officer. Under the new rules, agencies will assign only one to three officials per integrated on-call room. For example, the Government Complex Daejeon, home to eight agencies, would require only three officials instead of eight.

Agencies that receive high volumes of calls at night and during holidays will adopt an AI call-handling system. Routine inquiries will be redirected to the national civil complaint portal; fire and crime emergencies to 119 or 112; and only urgent matters will be transferred to an actual on-call officer. Currently, officials must answer all calls directly during off-hours.

Chun Ji-yoon, the director of the Government Ethics and Discipline Bureau at the Ministry of Personnel Management, announces the full-scale overhaul of the national on-call duty system at the Government Complex Sejong on Nov. 24. [NEWS1]

Smaller affiliated agencies have struggled with short on-call rotations. To ease this burden, agencies that require employees to take on-call duty more than once every two weeks will be able to relax the standard so that no one is scheduled more than once every four weeks.

On-call responsibilities will also be updated. Until now, officers were required to conduct constant patrols and inspections for security, fire safety and other risks. Under the revised rules, patrols and checks will be conducted only when necessary. Nighttime security will be primarily handled by the building management office and contracted security firms, and security checks by the last employee to leave the office will be expanded.

However, the central command on-call rooms at the government complexes in Sejong, Seoul, Gwacheon and Daejeon will remain in place to oversee overall operations. After related regulations are finalized, the government plans to run a three-month pilot program before fully implementing it in April 2026. The State Public Officials' Labor Union said it “fully welcomes the comprehensive overhaul of the on-call system.”

This marks the first major reform of the national civil service on-call system since its introduction in 1949 — 76 years ago. About 570,000 government officials currently work on-call shifts across 1,171 central administrative agencies. The Ministry of Personnel Management expects the overhaul to reduce annual on-call duty payments by 16.9 billion to 17.8 billion won ($11.4 million to $12 million).

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY MOON HEE-CHUL [[email protected]]