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Fallout from a surge in investigators and regulators?

Published: 29 Jan. 2026, 00:00

An aerial view of the Blue House photographed by drone on Dec. 25, 2025, just before the presidential office was relocated back from Yongsan. [KIM JONG-HO]

Staffing across central government ministries and affiliated public enterprises has risen sharply under the Lee Jae Myung administration. The government argues that the expansion is unavoidable given growing public demand for administrative services. Yet a rapid increase in public sector personnel risks creating a lasting fiscal burden. The trend is particularly pronounced in regulatory agencies, where the number of officials devoted to investigation and supervision is being expanded. That raises concerns about curbing private sector autonomy and undermining efficiency in the public sector itself.

This year alone, the central government plans to add 2,550 civil servants, with most of the increase concentrated in regulatory bodies such as the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the National Tax Service and the Fair Trade Commission. The labor ministry intends to add 2,000 labor inspectors with special judicial police authority, expanding its existing work force of about 3,000 by roughly two-thirds in a short period. Even for an administration that emphasizes strict punishment for industrial accidents and brands itself as labor-friendly, such a rapid buildup of supervisory personnel risks encouraging excessive enforcement simply to justify performance metrics.

The Fair Trade Commission, often described as the “economic prosecutor,” plans to add 167 staff this year, equivalent to about 25 percent of its total work force of roughly 700. At a recent Cabinet meeting, when the National Tax Service reported plans to add 4,000 temporary staff to manage tax arrears, President Lee rebuked the proposal as “timid” and instructed officials to consider a much larger expansion, suggesting that 10,000 to 20,000 additional personnel were possible. He also raised the need for stronger investigative authority when discussing an expansion of special judicial police at the Financial Supervisory Service.

Those remarks followed Lee’s repeated warnings that stock price manipulation would lead to “total ruin.” In response, authorities are reviewing whether the Financial Supervisory Service should be allowed to initiate investigations into capital market misconduct, including stock manipulation and accounting fraud, without prior approval from prosecutors. Yet, as the Financial Services Commission has cautioned, the risk of abuse of public power cannot be dismissed. It remains unclear how much benefit such a sweeping expansion of regulatory personnel would bring to everyday life for ordinary citizens.

Separately, the Ministry of Economy and Finance has promoted plans to hire 28,000 regular employees at public institutions this year, up 4,000 from last year, citing high youth unemployment. It has described the move as the largest such recruitment drive since 2020. Policies that create jobs through tax revenue, however, have clear limits and inevitably add to fiscal strain. Total personnel costs for civil servants alone are projected to exceed 50 trillion won ($35 billion) this year.

Demand for administrative services naturally evolves with social change. Still, relying on the easy solution of expanding headcount raises questions about long-term sustainability. Greater use of AI, along with retraining and redeployment of existing staff, should be considered first. Civil servants enjoy strong job security and are difficult to dismiss, making caution essential at the hiring stage. The government should resist impulsive, large-scale expansions of public sector payrolls and instead focus on improving employment conditions in the private sector.

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.