Minister Appointments Draw Criticism

The government is under criticism for cronyism in placing former Cheong Wa Dae Personnel Secretary Kim Wan-ki (photo), 62, head of the Government Employee Pension Corporation (GEPCO) after naming Lee Jae-yong, a former environment minister, as head of the National Health Insurance Corporation (NHIC).

On August 24, the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs (MOGAHA) posted just a brief announcement that said, “Kim Wan-ki has been appointed to the head of the GEPCO as of August 23.”

Concerning the short announcement, an official of the Innovation Personnel Team of the Ministry said, “He is well-known among the public so we did not attach a detailed profile of him.”

But the MOGAHA usually puts photos and profiles of newly appointed figures in the announcement, and that makes the public suspect it of avoiding condemnation of the chronic cronyism in the appointment of major public posts. The GEPCO said it had collected public nominations for the post from July 10 to 26 and selected Mr. Kim among the final 5 nominees, asserting, “There was nothing wrong in the nominating process.”

An insider of the Corporation said, “We selected more than two nominees through the public nomination process, and then President Roh Moo-hyun finally named him the corporation’s head after accepting MOGAHA’s recommendation.” He added that the GEPCO could not disclose the other four nominees in accordance with its rule.

Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Chung Tae-ho said, “His naming was strictly based on the current participatory government’s appointment principle. It has nothing to do with cronyism.”

Born in Gokseong in South Jeolla Province, Mr. Kim graduated from Gwangju High School in 1964 and began his career as a 9th civil servant (an assistant secretary of a town office). After that he climbed up the civil servant ladder as high as to the post of senior presidential secretary of personnel affairs of the current administration following Jung Chan-yong, after working as an official of the public information office in the MOGAHA and as an administrative deputy mayor of Gwangju.

As leaving office as a Personnel Secretary last May, he said that he wanted to take some rest and spend his life near Jiri Mountain.

Less than four months later, however, he was again named to a major post. And it stirs public criticism for another defiant appointment after former Environment Minister Lee Jae-yong.

In particular, critics say the public nomination system does not seem to function properly since both the posts of the heads of the NHIC and the GEPCO were taken by the president’s close aides.

GEPCO has 553 workers and as much as 11 trillion won worth of budget funding. It mainly works for pension funds of civil servants and boosting its fund. It runs Sangnok Resort in Cheonan, South Chungcheong.

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