Minister Selection Process Criticized

The chief of the preparation committee for the launch of the Uri Party Daegu Branch; losing National Assembly election; environment minister; losing the mayoral election in Daegu; the chief director of the National Health Insurance Corporation (NHIC).

The above is the career of the former Minister of Environment Lee Jae-yong (52), who was appointed to chief director of the NHIC on August 23.

Lee was appointed to the chief director in NHIC only three months after he had lost the mayoral election in Daegu on May 31. He was appointed to the post about two months after having been defeated in the 17th general election. However, he ran for provincial election again, resigning the post within a year.

From the beginning of the open recruitment for the chief director of NHIC, it is widely rumored Lee was arranged to be in the position. This seems to be the reason why there were only three candidates applied for recruitment this year: Lee, former director of the NHIC Ahn Jong-ju, and an unknown managerial candidate. The government ignored the resistance of the staff union of NHIC and Social Insurance Committee.

These unions asserted, “The government is parachuting cooperative figures into the positions, using other candidates as a foil for hiding their arbitrary nominations,” and also stated that the chief director Lee, a former dentist, has no experience in public health administration.

Opposition parties fiercely criticized what they called “repaying personnel nominations” of the Roh administration with one voice. Grand National Party Spokesperson Na Kyung-won said, “The appointment of Lee as chief director is compensation for running in elections in provinces unfavorable to the Party. Hereby, the formulation that a defeated candidate for general election is a minister, and the one defeated for local election is a chief executive is completed.”

Democratic Party spokesperson Lee Sang-yul criticized, “It is a basic pattern of immorality that the government chooses someone among candidates in advance, therefore degrading other candidates as a foil.”

Against these criticisms, Jung Tae-ho, spokesperson of Cheong Wa Dae, said, “It has been proved that Lee has the ability to manage public organizations since he worked as the Minster of Environment, and it should be regarded that he has enough professionalism in the health care sector according to his experience of operating a hospital as a dentist.”

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