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The search for new CEOs will begin next week at 18 state-run enterprises affiliated with the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, including KEPCO, Korea Gas Corporation, Korea National Oil Corporation and Korea Coal Corporation. Also likely are follow-up appointments of the presidents of around 190 state-run enterprises, criteria for which have yet to be decided, and appointments at around 90 others, which the Knowledge Economy Ministry said would be made from a pool of private-sector experts. This is the third high-level appointment for the new government following those of secretaries at Cheong Wa Dae and Cabinet ministers.
A much larger list of candidates gathered from the public subscription process is recommended to Cheong Wa Dae, which makes the final choice and therefore has a tremendous level of power in the hiring process.
Each time high-level appointments were made, the Lee Myung-bak administration has been criticized for choosing people representing only the wealthy, property-owning class. And as this perception spread, Koreans increasingly felt that the government is made up of people who come from a different group in society. One of the reasons why so many Koreans have been gripped by groundless fears of mad cow disease so quickly is because this division exists in the public mind.
The Cabinet ministers named during the last round of appointments owned an average of W3.3 billion (US$1=W1,048) in personal assets, while those in top Cheong Wa Dae posts owned W3.5 billion. There is no way of avoiding criticism that those appointments failed to heed public sentiment. Not only are these officials rich, a large number have land acquired for speculative purposes located in regions of the country they have no connections with. Objectively speaking, officials were appointed who posed clear problems with regard to their sense of ethics and ability. And after they were appointed, rumors always swirled around that they had, to put it delicately, some type of personal connection to administration figures.
The president and Cheong Wa Dae must have recognized the seriousness of the situation by now. In a meeting at Cheong Wa Dae in late April, President Lee said people must be selected among CEOs from the private sector and appointments should not be made to bestow favors on certain people. Announcing those instructions by the president earlier this month, Vice Strategy and Finance Minister Bae Kook-hwan confidently said the list of officials appointed this time would demonstrate that experts from the private sector were hired. He was saying in other words there would be no more favoritism.
But that¡¯s not enough. Not only will the public keep its eyes on whether there is favoritism, they will also want to see whether the officials hired this time come from the wealthy and privileged class of society or not.
There is a long list of people so far without government posts who either helped the president during the election campaign or have connections with powerful people in the administration. The success or failure of the latest round of appointments will depend on how effectively these officials can be blocked from the hiring process. If there is a problem in the government¡¯s system of hiring people, then radical changes should be made so that the same mistakes are not repeated.
The government is only in the process of choosing the CEOs, and already we are hearing rumors of school and business ties and even church affiliations of those who have applied to the administration. Each resume that has been submitted is said to contain a letter of thanks candidates have received from the president or highlight some type of affiliation with him. This shows how tough the hiring process will be.
The botched appointments have practically ruined the image of the new administration less than three months after it was launched. The Lee administration must realize that this may be its last opportunity.
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