Busan to Abolish 77-Year-Old All-Staff Rotational Duty System

Dedicated Personnel Disaster Response System to Begin in September

24-Hour AI Duty Management System for Civil Petitions Also Introduced

The Busan Metropolitan Government (Mayor Jeon Jae-soo) will abolish its all-staff rotational duty system, which has been in place for the past 77 years. Instead, the city will implement a duty and disaster response system centered on dedicated personnel.

On July 24, Busan announced that a new duty operation system will take effect starting September 1.

This overhaul constitutes an administrative innovation, as it completely eliminates the rotational night-duty system in the public sector that has continued since the establishment of the government in 1948. The move is seen as an effort to allow public officials to focus more on policy planning and public administration rather than being assigned to duty shifts.

Until now, officials at the main city hall have taken turns covering night and holiday duties. There has been criticism that such duty assignments have led to accumulated fatigue, and substitute leave for duty days has resulted in administrative service gaps the following day.

Busan will eliminate simple standby duty roles. Instead, the city will increase dedicated staff in the disaster situation room and strengthen the continuity between duty shifts and disaster response. The system will also be linked to a smart control system, enabling swifter initial responses to night-time or holiday emergencies.

An AI-based duty management system will also be introduced. Routine, repetitive civil service inquiries and those requiring guidance from other agencies will be handled 24 hours a day by AI. The disaster situation room will focus on monitoring disasters, accidents, and incidents.

The Busan city government expects this reorganization to reduce work gaps caused by substitute leave after duty shifts. It also anticipates that the processing speed of civil petitions and citizen services will improve. The plan aims to reduce unnecessary budget expenditures and enhance organizational efficiency.

Busan Mayor Jeon Jae-soo emphasized, “Even if a practice has become customary over the past 77 years, it must be boldly changed if it fails to genuinely help citizens or undermines administrative efficiency.”

Mayor Jeon underlined, “We will foster an organizational culture where public officials can focus on their core work and innovative administration for citizens, instead of being tied to formal duty assignments.”

Busan City Hall.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.