Foreign ministry to launch advisory group to support self-reform drive

South Korea's foreign ministry said Monday that it will launch an advisory group to assist in its self-reform drive this week.

The 15-member group comprised of experts from civic groups, businesses and relevant government agencies will be launched on Wednesday, according to the ministry.

The experts in diverse areas like organization, budget, personnel and administrative affairs will discuss and come up with solutions to challenges confronting the ministry.

They will work with the ministry's new "innovation" task force recently launched to spearhead reforms aimed at strengthening its overall capability and efficiency.

The task force has been carrying out an analysis of the ministry's organization and structure and collect opinions from officials and outside experts on how to address current challenges with a plan to unveil a reform blueprint by September.

In her inauguration speech last month, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha underlined the need to create a workforce with more diverse backgrounds and capabilities for the ministry frequently criticized for its "closed" organization dominated by a small group of people who started their careers as diplomats and graduated from certain schools. (Yonhap)