South Korea will streamline public corporations in infrastructure building, agrofisheries and cultural areas through consolidation and transfer some operations to the private sector, the government said Wednesday.

The move, part of the government's three-year economic innovation plan, will impact 52 corporations and institutions, reshuffle some 5,700 personnel, and reallocate 7.6 trillion won ($6.87 billion) in state funds, the finance ministry said.

"The goal is to concentrate resources on key sectors that can raise the efficiency of public corporations, while spinning off others that can be better handled by private companies," said Noh Hyeong-ouk, head of fiscal affairs at the ministry. "Their overlapping operations will be merged."

The deputy minister emphasized that the government does not plan to lay off existing workers of the public corporations.

"Workers will be re-assigned to operations that will be expanded within the corporation to better serve the public," the official said.

Of the corporations and agencies to be affected, four, including the Korea Green Promotion Agency and the Next Generation Sports Talent Foundation, will be abolished, with their authority to be handed over to existing or new organizations.

The ministry said large state-run corporations such as the Korea Land and Housing Corp. will halt the building of medium and large homes, and focus on managing rental homes.

The Korea Railroad Corp. will outsource maintenance work for rolling stock and hand over operations for the operation of its facilities to a private company. It will, moreover, close 47 regional cargo handling train stations and operate some 30 main shipment centers across the country.

Many other operations currently maintained by the Korea Appraisal Board, the Korea Rural Community Corp., the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp., and the Korea Land and Geospatial Informatix Corp. will be transferred to private companies.

To better handle emergency situations, the Korea Expressway Corp. will set up a new safety bureau, while all shipping-related management will be concentrated under the Korea Ship Safety Technology Authority, the ministry said.

Ministries in charge of public corporations will come up with specific timetables for the reorganization by early June, it said. (Yonhap)