Presidential Secretaries Received Salaries Even After Leaving Office

It was reported that Cheong Wa Dae paid salaries to presidential secretaries who had handed in their resignations up until they landed new jobs.

Kim Hee-jung, a lawmaker of the opposition Grand National Party, held a press conference at the National Assembly building yesterday and said, “We examined 105 presidential secretaries who left office during the current government and found out that as many as 20 of them received salaries even after submitting their resignations up until they obtained new jobs.” Kim added, “This was possible by putting off accepting the resignations.”

According to the examination on the document, “Report on Employment Condition and Position Change of Senior Officials in Presidential Secretary Office,” presented by the presidential secretary office, 20 secretaries received salaries from Cheong Wa Dae until their resignations were accepted, which was, on average, 55 days per cap.

The period that the secretaries received salaries after handing in their resignations ranged from 10 to 114 days, with the total period at 1,111 days. According to another document, “Report on Secretaries with Different Date between Dismissal and Resignation,” revealed by Kim yesterday, Park, the former presidential secretary of public information and public affairs, left office, and his successor was appointed on May 7, 2003, yet he continued to receive his salary (114 days) until August 29, 2003. He was appointed as a general in the Korea consulate in Yokohama, Japan on September 15, 2003.

“One retired secretary stated that it was a type of careful consideration for officials who couldn’t land jobs right after their resignations. They don’t go to the office most of the time,” Kim said during the conference.

Regarding this, a Cheong Wa Dae source said, “We do have a personnel management principle that considers the respective roles of successors and predecessor during transitions,” adding, “Because of this, there are some cases where resignation acceptance have been put off for about three or four months. However, there is no problem because they were done according to the regulations.”

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