Ministry of Finance and Economy Expand Open Appointment to Fourth Grade

The Ministry of Finance and Economy has decided to allow over 10 people from the private sector to be appointed to fourth grade offices and to select applicants through a competitive process from a mixed pool of government and private personnel.

The Ministry made the decision in consideration of reports that point out that the principle of competition is not adequately applied for governmental appointments that simply result from passing the civil service exam. Many expect the decision to create massive changes in the appointment process for public officials.

A high-ranking official of the Ministry stated on the 16th, "Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economy Jin Nyum`s announcement of the decision to appoint at least 10 persons from the private sector to fourth grade posts in his report to the President on the 4th, means that open appointments will be made for 10 or more fourth grade level posts every year."

The official added, "We will increase these open posts by 5 percent every year and will introduced a revolving door system that opens up every posts just like the U.S. system." Furthermore, he stated, "Although we opened up the first grade post last year to the private sector, there were no applicants because the salary was only 47,000,000 won. Since persons aged 40 years and above value job security more than yearly salary, we will expand the open posts to fifth and fourth grade level posts."

The Ministry of Finance and Economy is planning to open up several fourth grade level posts in March at the earliest. Moreover, the Ministry will reinforce principle of competition in public offices by selecting 19 persons for fourth and fifth grade level posts this year even if they have not taken the civil service exams.

Presently, the posts in the International Finance Bureau (first grade), Financial Policy Bureau, and the Welfare and Consumer Policy Bureau (second, third grade) have open appointments, but the Ministry is using its former officials to fill the posts because no one has volunteered to apply for them.

Chan-Sun Hong hcs@donga.com