Government Executive Picks Criticized

Grand National Party (GNP) Lawmaker Bahk Jae-wan said yesterday, “Among those who were assigned to executive posts in government affiliated organizations since the inauguration of the Roh Moo-hyun government, a total of 282 (134 politicians and 148 government bureaucrats) have either political or bureaucratic backgrounds.”

At a GNP Public Sector Reform Special Committee-hosted Policy Discussion, he argued, “Government information shows that the personnel management practice of returning or assigning similar-minded people still persists.”

According to Bahk, of all political or governmental bureaucrats recently assigned, 119 or 42.2 percent were heads of their organizations, 84 or 29.8 percent were auditors, and 79 or 28 percent were directors.

The percentages according to regions of origin were: Honam at 33.6 percent with 45, Yeongnam at 23.9 percent with 31, Seoul and Gyeonggi Province at 20.1 percent with 27, Chungcheong Province at 11.9 percent with 16, and Gangwon Province at six percent with eight.

Bahk stated, “Most of the assigned politicians are Uri Party general election runner-ups, special aides to President Roh when he was a candidate, presidential election committee members, presidential post transfer committee members, and other ruling party members.”

He also pointed out, “In the case of permanent auditors, which require expertise and independence, people with different majors and no experience in the field were assigned these spots, making the auditor position the highlight of such parachute personnel.”

According to his data, people who had majored in political science and English literature and with no experience in the field were assigned as auditors in construction related organization. In addition, a Chinese major was assigned to audit Korean Gas Corporation, and a Uri Party Central Committee member who graduated as a pharmacist went to audit the Korea Aerospace Industries.

The average salary of auditors in government related organization in 2005 was 131.46 million won, which is higher the average salary of organization chiefs, 122 million won.

Jung-Eun Lee lightee@donga.com