'Parachute appointment' gets worsened under Moon administration

The practice of government-controlled administration has, since the inauguration of the current government, evolved in the way that financial authorities and those with power within the government intervene in hiring personnel in the private finance arena. It does not only deteriorate interdependency and freedom in financial business but also lowers Korean financial competitiveness, according to analysts.

A well-known example is a scandal regarding chairmanship of Kim Jung-tae three times in a row in Hana Financial Group in March. Two months earlier, the Financial Supervisory Service had called on the financial company’s recommendation committee on chairman candidacy to suspend the appointment process. The financial supervision agency put more pressure on Hana by making it clear that any person in the financial circle may be subject to intervention.

Controversy over government intervention in appointment was incurred when chief investment officer was appointed in the National Pension Service, which manages citizens’ post-retirement funds of 643 trillion won. When it was released that former presidential chief policymaker Jang Ha-sung recommended application for the post in question to former chief of Baring Asset Management Kwak Tae-sun, the Korean presidential office Cheong Wa Dae made lame excuses that Kwak’s failure in the appointment proves that the internal hiring system works flawlessly.

Export-Import Bank of Korea's auditor Cho Yong-soon served as presidential security service chief under the late President Roh Moo-hyun’s administration. A person irrelevant to banking and management auditing has been appointed as an auditor of a government-led bank, with an annual income of hundreds of millions of won. Those who worked on the then presidential candidate Moon Jae-in’s campaign have come back to the financial arena. For example, former KB Real Estate Trust CEO Kim Jung-min, who worked during the 2012 presidential election for the then presidential candidate Moon, returned to the position of vice president of his old company this January. Also, former Hana Financial Group Vice Chairman Kim Ji-wan, on Moon’s campaign trail, took the position of chairman of BNK Financial Group in September last year.


Gun-Huk Lee gun@donga.com