Are Public Corporation Positions Trophies of the Presidential Elections?

--Are public corporation officials getting “trophies?”

Korea National Tourism Organization (KNTO) President Yoo Keon has mainly worked in insurance during his life. Yoo had not done work greatly related to tourism until he became the president of KNTO last June. During the presidential elections campaign period in 2002, he worked as candidate Roh Moo-hyun’s policy spokesperson.

Current Korea Racing Association vice chairman Lee Bong-soo worked as Roh’s former agricultural policy spokesman. He has been president of the Gimhae Agricultural Businessmen Committee and ran in the general elections in 2000 as an MDP candidate in Gimhae. Recently, former presidential secretariat officials are advancing into public service positions in governmental organizations.

Last month, assistant reporting secretary Kwon Young-man of the presidential secretariat was chosen as the EBS vice president, evoking opposition from the workers’ union. Former policy reform secretary of the presidential secretariat Kwak Hae-gon became Korean Real Estate Trustee Association vice chairman.

--Government enterprise supervisors especially serious

Among the six affiliated companies of the Korean Electric Power Corporation (KEPC), the Korea East-West Power Co and the Korea South Power Co are the only places where an official of non-political background is standing auditor.

Also, Roh’s Busan Election Management Committee collaborative chief Shin Jong-kwan became auditor for the Korea Export Insurance Corporation last June, while MDP chief of general affairs Choi Ki-sun became auditor for the Korea Gas Safety Corporation. Korea Coal Corporation auditor Lee Dong-seup was a former member of Roh’s central election management committee headquarters, and Korea District Heating Corporation auditor Lee Tae-heon formerly worked as an advisory committee member for the presidential security committee. Korea Electric Power Data Network auditor Choi Yong-shik worked as former MDP central training institute vice director.

Although not of public sector corporations, Roh’s former spokesperson Yoo Joon-kyu is working as the president of the Overseas Construction Association, and former advisory committee member for the presidential security committee Kim Dong-su is working as auditor of the Korea Specialty Contractor Financial Cooperative.

--The shadow of high-handed personnel administration without expertise

The problem with officials who enter public corporations by political means is that they lack expertise. Auditing Chief Jun Yoon-chul once said while working as Minister of Planning and Budget, “It is unlikely that inspections will be done properly when the people auditing the public corporations don’t even know what balance sheets are.”

Professor Ahn Jae-wook of the Economics and Trade department of Kyunghee University says, “When officials without expertise assume high positions in public corporations though their connections, the effectiveness of those corporations are threatened.” Ahn said that the reason high-handed personnel administration still exists is because those in power want to extend their power further by sending their aides to key positions, and they also want to display consideration for their aides.

On the current situation, a Cheong Wa Dae official says, “Public corporation officials are positioned after due process of selection by the chief authorities of the head office,” adding that “although it is possible that those with political background are posted in those corporations if they are well suited for the position, it is difficult to conclude that all former politicians in such positions are examples of high-handed personnel administration.”