More than 10,000 new civil service jobs were created during since President Lee Myung-bak’s administration began in 2008, according to official data released Monday.

According to the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, there were 615,487 civil servants working for the government in 2012, up 10,773 from five years ago.

The ministry noted that concerns on public security were the main factor for the increase in civil service jobs.

More than half of new employees, 6,500, were police officers. The increase was also driven by a reduction of conscripted riot police, who are mostly in their early 20’s serving military duty.

The government has employed police officers to replace them, according to the ministry.

The number of civil servants stood at some 562,000 between 1998 and 2002 under President Kim Dae-jung’s government, but it rose nearly 8 percent to 604,714 during the President Roh Moo-hyun administration.

(596story@heraldcorp.com)