[Opinion] Civil Servant Web Posts

Once draft dodgers were called “sons of a god.” Recently, it is public workers who are called sons or daughters of a god. That is because they are guaranteed their job security until they reach retirement age and receive a public pension after retirement. Young men and women want to find a spouse who is a civil servant. But do they know those “sons and daughters of a god” are laboring posting replies at a government website everyday?

This year alone writings and replies have amounted to 2,271 cases that 48 government ministries and agencies posted at Kukjeong Briefing, a government press release site. That can be explained that one out of 40 civil servants (approximately 90,000 workers as of end of 2005) working at central government ministries and agencies has been busy posting counter-arguments against articles criticizing the government. The two top government agencies that have been particularly keen on the job were the Ministry of Finance and Economy which has contributed 240 cases to the website, and the Ministry of Construction and Transportation which has done the job least once a day. It is not surprising in that the two Ministries have been known to have good chemistries with the Roh administration. They spent a lot of time in government promotion and posting articles and replies that flatter the government in spite of the fact that their job description does not include writing. Given that, they should not say they have been dedicated to what they actually have to do from shaping policies for the people to implementing those policies.

Earlier this month, the Ministry of Planning and Budget said, “A 40-hour work week system required 9% more workforce,” responding to a newspaper article saying public companies are getting bigger and bigger. In that case, more jobs should have been created in the private sector, too. But according to statistics data analyzed by Grand National Party member Jung Byung-kook, the employment rate during the Roh administration is negative, the first of its kind under Korea’s past and current administrations. Since the 5-day work week was introduced, the number of workers on payroll even decreased 1.5%. The Ministry of Planning and Budget must be an elite Ministry. Then how come such a government agency said complete nonsense? If they invested time and efforts into reform for public companies instead, the economy and the quality of life would have been much better.

It is a talk of the town in the officialdom that you can move up the ladder of success if you post a good article at Kukjeong Briefing. Lee Baek-man, senior secretary for public information, was actually the one who was promoted curry favoring President Roh and then Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan. But if a government makes competent public officials who won in a fierce competition just curry favor with the government, it is certainly not doing its job.

Kim Soon-deok, Editorial Writer, yuri@donga.com