The South Korean Interior Ministry, on Thursday, announced a government reorganisation plan under which the gender ministry would be abolished.
The ministry said that the veterans’ affairs agency would be elevated to the ministry level and a separate body for consular services would be newly established.
The plan, announced by Interior Minister Lee Sang-min, requires parliamentary approval, but it remains unclear whether the plan can pass through the National Assembly.
This is because the main opposition Democratic Party, which holds a majority, is negative about abolishing the gender ministry.
Under the plan, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family will be disbanded and a new office in charge of gender and family issues will be established under the health ministry.
Abolishing the gender ministry, lauded by young male voters but decried by feminist groups, has been a key campaign pledge by President Yoon Suk-yeol.
The plan also calls for upgrading the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, which currently holds administrative status as a sub-ministry-level government body, into an independent ministry.
The promotion will empower the veterans’ affairs minister, who can now only sit in when the Cabinet convenes to fully join the Cabinet’s decision-making process.
However, under the reorganisation plan, a new sub-ministry-level agency handling consular affairs and services will also be set up under the wing of the foreign minister and absorb such duties currently being carried out by the foreign ministry, officials said.
The envisioned agency will also take on new projects, including networking and education involving Koreans overseas, at a time when some 7.3 million Koreans or Korean descendants are living outside of their home country, according to officials.
Women’s advocacy groups strongly protested the reorganisation plan as they would significantly undercut the government’s gender equality initiative.
“Being an already tiny government body, the gender ministry has been under criticism that it is not doing enough for gender equality, and the change will leave it with no power at all,’’ Yang Lee Hyun-Kyung, co-head of the Korean Women’s Associations United said.
Chung Hyun-back, a professor at Sungkyunkwan University and former gender minister, called for the withdrawal of the plan, saying it will marginalise gender-related policies.
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