Lame Duck Syndrome Is Everywhere

In an office of the Ministry of Information and Communications in the afternoon of Aug. 8, about half of about 30 seats are empty. The remaining staff seem are chatting around and don`t seem to work hard.

At the very moment, a broadcasting notifies them of the minister touring around. The entire office suddenly becomes busy. A senior official directed to find staff members who are not in. Some people start push the buttons on telephones and others call in those who are outside the office.

The minister arrived after 10 minutes, but still a third of the seats remain empty.

A staff says, "It is unimaginable a few years ago. But the minister will resign in 6 months. Who cares?"

As President Kim Dae-jung`s term is closing to an end, the discipline of the official dorm has significantly loosened, eclipsing the efforts of the Kim government to tighten the official discipline by pushing ahead with uncompromising restructuring in the early stage of his term. The degradation of discipline has intensified with the spread of the lame duck syndrome.

▽ `Do Not Disturb`

In the afternoon of Aug 8, two thirds of 10 seats in an office of the Ministry of Planning and Budget remain empty although it is past the lunch break. Staff members either went out for lunch and not yet came back, or came back but left again for a nap.

In this empty office, a number of public officials in local governments, researchers and employees of state-owned enterprises are waiting for staff members to com back to discuss budget distribution. They have to wait for one to two hours to get their works done.

A public official of a local government knew that the official he has to meet is taking a nap but he cannot wake him up for fear that he might be disadvantaged.

He said, “It is nothing new that officials in the Planning and Budget Ministry rule over the official dorm but they are going too far these days."

▽ Putting New Projects on the Back Burner

Fearing the organizational overhaul that has been repeated in the last stage of a regime, officials are becoming nervous. They don`t even think about launching new projects while barely maintaining the ongoing projects.

Since the discussion of merging the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Ministry of Commerce Industry and Energy has been circulated, officials of each ministry are concentrating on informing outside of why their ministry should remain intact.

Under this condition, officials are losing enthusiasm to do their jobs. An employee of the Ministry of Construction and Transportation said, "Frankly speaking, new projects are not promoted, and ongoing projects are dragging their feet."

▽ Cause and Countermeasures

A high-ranking official of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries said, "The reason behind the lax discipline in the official dorm is that public officials put power ahead of the public. Public officials value pride and morale, so what is needed is an environment for them to work voluntarily."

Lee Jang-hee president of law school, Hankook University of Foreign Studies said, "A whistle-blowing system and public monitoring system should be activated to guard against the negligence of duty by public officials. In particular, it is strongly urged to punish public officials who neglect their duties even by enacting a special law in the run up to the presidential election."

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