The newly formed national policy planning committee has decided to form a task force to develop a government reorganization plan, with a view to redistributing the powers of certain ministries that have become overly centralized. 

Lee Han-joo, the chair of the committee, announced the plan Monday during its inaugural meeting at the government complex in Seoul. 

Lee said the aim of the plan is to shift certain powers and responsibilities away from those ministries and improve administrative efficiency so that South Korea can emerge as a global leader in artificial intelligence, and to better respond to climate change through institutional reform. 

The committee plans to first discuss reassigning the finance ministry’s budget planning function to an independent organization.

It will also discuss creating a new ministry of climate and energy, which would integrate the climate response functions of the environment ministry with the energy functions of the industry, trade and energy ministry.