Insight · Korean Financial Regulation

From MOEF to MOFE: Korea's 2026 Finance-Ministry Reorganization

4 August 2026 · KFR Gateway (H&S Partners)

On 2 January 2026, Korea reorganized the core of its economic-policy apparatus. The former Ministry of Economy and Finance (기획재정부, commonly abbreviated MOEF) was split into two separate bodies. For anyone reading Korean statutes in English, the change is small in words but appears almost everywhere, because it renames the minister responsible for a large body of financial and economic law.

What changed

The former Ministry of Economy and Finance was divided into:

• the Ministry of Planning and Budget (기획예산처), which takes the budget, fiscal planning and public-finance functions; and

• the Ministry of Finance and Economy (재정경제부, abbreviated MOFE), which takes economic policy, taxation, the treasury and — importantly for financial-market participants — the foreign exchange regime.

A note on the English name (and why it matters)

The word order is easy to confuse. The outgoing ministry was the "Ministry of Economy and Finance" (MOEF). The new finance ministry is the "Ministry of Finance and Economy" (MOFE), and its head is the "Minister of Finance and Economy." The two names differ only in word order, so in English translations the distinction is easy to miss — but it is the correct, current designation as of 2 January 2026.

What it changes in the statutes

Because the reorganization was carried out through an amendment to the Government Organization Act, the competent minister is renamed throughout the many statutes the finance ministry administers. The Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, for example, refers to the "Minister of Finance and Economy" wherever it previously referred to the "Minister of Economy and Finance." The change took effect on 2 January 2026 and is reflected in the current consolidated Korean texts.

For readers relying on older English translations, this is worth checking: an English text prepared before 2026 will still say "Minister of Economy and Finance," which no longer matches the current Korean.