The first case has emerged of a post office relocating into idle space owned by a local government.

The Postal Service under the Ministry of Science and ICT said on Tuesday a post office will relocate to idle space at a volunteer fire brigade facility in Mupung-myeon, Muju county, North Jeolla Province. Post office services will be provided from August after interior work and other preparations.

This is the first result of the "joint use of post offices in local government spaces" project being promoted to remove barriers between ministries and improve the efficiency of administrative services. The key is to bring dispersed local administrative agencies together in one place and jointly use facilities to improve residents’ access to and convenience of administrative services.

The Postal Service said Muju county’s active cooperation played a decisive role in the relocation of the Mupung post office. Muju county considered the convenience of local residents, including by proactively proposing a site during discussions.

The Postal Service said it expects the case, in which central administrative agencies and local governments improve the efficiency of public resources to respond to the risk of regional decline, to create synergy with its various public projects. It plans to expand cooperation on jointly using space with local governments and other administrative agencies nationwide, starting with this case.

Park In-hwan (박인환), head of the Postal Service, visited the site in Mupung-myeon, Muju county, on May 11 to check preparations for the relocation and encourage officials.

Park said the Mupung-myeon case is "a valuable result" of cooperating with a local government "with only public convenience in mind." He stressed that post offices will continue to serve as a community gathering place and a channel for welfare delivery.