Control Tower for Disaster Relief
President Park Geun-hye released a statement to the nation on May 19, revealing her plan to set up a new organization in charge of national safety and the prevention of another Sewol disaster. The organization is scheduled to incorporate parts of the Ministry of Security and Public Administration, the National Emergency Management Agency, and the Korea Coast Guard to assume the central role in safety management. Three departments – Fire, Maritime Safety and Special Disaster – are established in the new bureau.
Disasters on land are responded to by the Fire Department, local governments, and the authorities concerned. Those on the sea are tackled by the Maritime Safety Department, which consists of the four regional headquarters covering the West Sea, South Sea, East Sea, and Jeju, so that rescue and salvage functions can be significantly shored up. The Special Disaster Department is going to be responsible for safety associated with air, energy, chemicals, and telecommunications.
In short, the new organ is to be of the highest authority in safety control except in the nuclear, food, and drug fields, where competent organizations are already present. In this context, the new body is compared to the Federal Emergency Management Agency of the United States.
Her plan moves beyond the expectations of many. Until recently, the new organization was predicted to be a combination of the safety control headquarters of the National Emergency Management Agency and the Ministry of Security and Public Administration with some extra functions added. Some people doubt that it will fulfill its functions as desired, since it would be another part of the horizontal national network.
At the same time, special rescue squads for rapid dispatch will be created as well. The teams are going to be equipped with high-tech gear and repeated training for boosted crisis management capabilities, comparable to those of the military and the special police squad. The central government, on its part, will provide budgetary support so the organ can do what it is supposed to do. The President officially announced that she would grant the prior consultation rights for the safety-associated budget and the right to the distribution of special grants for disaster prevention.
Moreover, the new government body is expected to hire experts and professionals through open recruitment, while sticking to strict job rotations to accelerate the reform of the bureaucratic society as a whole. It is planned to come up with a new and innovative national master plan for national safety first thing after its foundation.