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The civil service reform team of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party conducted an on-the-spot survey a few days ago under a program to halve the number of housing units for civil servant in downtown Tokyo within the next five years. There are now 22,000 of such high-rent units in the capital. Tokyo has also decided to scrap the 30 minutes daily paid leave civil servants are entitled to, and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has announced a plan to get rid of 5 percent of the nation¡¯s 650,000 civil servants in the next five years and halve the proportion of civil service personnel costs in GDP over the next decade.
So why are things going the other way in Korea? The number of civil servants here has increased by 22,000 since the current administration assumed power. Faced with public protest, the government is now ¡°reviewing¡± plans to increase their number by another 15,900 this year. W300 billion (US$300 million) will be needed in five years under laws that shorten the period required for the promotion of police officers. Government officials now say the promotion period of firefighters will also be cut so they can keep up with police, despite earlier assurances that this would be it.
Japan plans to eliminate the pensions gap between public servants and corporate staff that now means public-sector pensions are 20 percent higher than those in the private sector. In Korea, an ordinary citizen who has paid his national pensions contributions for 20 years gets 30 percent of his average monthly income for the rest of his or her life. Public servants get 50 percent of the average for the last three working years. The privilege resulted in a W730 billion deficit in the civil service pension fund last year. The deficit is covered by tax money, but no government official has ever mentioned the need to repair the inconsistency.
The transfer of public services to the private sector is called public sector liberalization in Japan. Koizumi has finally pushed through the liberalization of the Japan's postal system, a reform project of several years that will see 30 percent of the 260,000 Japan Post workers dismissed. Small government leads to less government intervention and regulation in the private sector. That in turn helps revitalize the economy, create new jobs and reinforce the social safety network with improved public finances. The unfettered growth of Korea¡¯s public sector makes it highly doubtful that the government is serious about its much-trumpeted mission to reduce the wealth gap.
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