Overseas Koreans Cooperation Center merged into Overseas Koreans Agency; new capacity-building bureau created

The Overseas Koreans Cooperation Center, an affiliate of South Korea's Overseas Koreans Agency, was abolished on Sept. 30 and merged into the agency itself on Oct. 1. The move brings policy-making and program delivery, previously split between two bodies, into a single organization. The agency has also drawn up a 2027 budget proposal of 136.9 billion won, 21.4% more than this year.

By FOCUS BUSINESS editorial staff

Why the merger

Since the agency's launch in 2023, lawmakers had repeatedly pointed to overlapping work with the cooperation center and inefficiencies in organization and budgeting. The government amended the Framework Act on Overseas Koreans to abolish the center, a separate legal entity, and have the agency take over its functions directly. The revised organizational decree and enforcement rules were promulgated on July 14 and took effect on Oct. 1.

New units

A senior-level director-general for overseas Korean capacity support was created under the Exchange and Cooperation Bureau, along with three divisions: talent development, next-generation training and heritage preservation. According to the amended enforcement rules, staffing rose by 36 positions in total, 30 of them for the new units.

The talent development division will support returning overseas Koreans step by step with education, jobs and resettlement. The next-generation training division plans to expand training from about 2,000 people a year to 6,000 by 2029. The heritage division will document the history of migration and settlement.

2027 budget proposal of 136.9 billion won

The 2027 proposal is 24.2 billion won more than this year's 112.7 billion won, the largest increase since the agency was launched in 2023. Support for Korean-language schools rises from 19.5 billion won to 25.5 billion won, and 3.4 billion won is newly allocated to build an integrated digital platform for overseas Koreans. The proposal must pass the National Assembly.

Job continuity still unresolved

Because center employees had to change status to become civil servants, the agency filled 37 positions, matching the center's headcount, through competitive career hiring. With 437 applicants, competition was about 12 to 1, and roughly half of the existing staff were not appointed. The agency has offered measures such as hiring four more people this year and opening six vacant contract posts, but says a fundamental fix requires funding from the National Assembly.

Business Checkpoints

Announcements and contact points for invitation programs, next-generation projects and networking events once run by the center have moved to the agency. Korean associations, chambers of commerce and companies that took part in these programs should recheck the responsible office on the Overseas Koreans Agency website and in notices from their local Korean mission.

Support for returning overseas Koreans and expanded next-generation training could become a recruiting channel for Korean firms abroad. Much of the budget increase, however, goes to Korean-language schools and the digital platform. The size of economic and business programs will only be clear from detailed announcements after the National Assembly approves the budget.

※ This article is based on the revised organizational rules of the Overseas Koreans Agency and Korean and international media reports.