[Editorial] Roh Obsessed with Big Government

Initiated by the Ulsan city government, an increasing number of local governments nationwide, including the Seoul city government, are participating in a drive to layoff civil servants who are incompetent or remiss in duties. According to an opinion poll, 63.8 percent of the respondents favored the movement, while only 16.3 percent opposed it. This is indicative of the public’s degree of distrust and discontent regarding some government employees. The movement is now spreading into universities and some public institutions.

However, President Roh Moo-hyun said on Thursday, “A good government should not make its employees live in fear all the time. I will make efforts so that a culture where people understand a reform in the government employment structure is not a cure for all.” President Roh, who should be encouraging the personnel reform in the public sectors, is instead putting a damper on the voluntary efforts of autonomous governments. Ever since President Roh took office in early 2003, the central government has added some 48,000 people to its payroll while spending reserve funds to cover increased labor costs. Moreover, the so-called “open competition system” for hiring the heads of government agencies that President Roh has introduced has turned into a recruitment system full of conspiracy.

Public servants must undergo fierce competition to maintain their posts like any employees of private firms do. Incompetent civil servants must be weeded out through a strict evaluation to increase the productivity and efficiency of the government, which in turn should provide high quality services to taxpayers.

The Roh administration has made the size of the public sector inordinately bigger under its nonsensical management. Although the moral hazard of civil servants has become much more serious, it has become increasingly difficult to fire public sector employees. For instance, the Bank of Korea recently announced that it will take part in the personnel reform drive, saying it will take punitive measures on employees whose job performance is evaluated to be in the lower five percent for five consecutive years. However, experts point out that the possibility of being the unlucky one is one in 3.2 million. This indicates difficulties in reforming the public sector’s personnel management system. No wonder people call the posts of the public sectors “god given jobs.”

The president should be the one to call for “a small government” and take initiatives in monitoring public institutions like those of advanced countries. It is absurd to see him disturbing local governments’ efforts to reform themselves. Moreover, high ranking officials have been repeating the remarks of the president like a parrot whenever President Roh introduces major policies ranging from real estates to education, adding only burdens for the tax payers.