[Sejong Gwangga] KOMSCO President Position Also Precarious... Ministry of Economy and Finance Senior Officials Losing Places to Go

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] As the number of 'accessible' positions for heads of affiliated organizations decreases, senior officials at the Ministry of Economy and Finance are experiencing a colder winter than ever before. Following the appointment of a former member of the National Assembly to the position of Administrator of the Public Procurement Service, it has been reported that a former Blue House official has applied for the presidency of the Korea Minting, Security Printing & ID Card Operating Corporation, whose term ends this January, further narrowing the career advancement paths for current senior officials at the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance and political circles on the 22nd, it is known that Ban Jang-sik, former Blue House Senior Secretary for Jobs, applied for the next president position of the Korea Minting Corporation. The executive recommendation committee of the Minting Corporation shortlisted four candidates, including Ban, through interviews at the third meeting held earlier this month and recommended them to the Public Institution Management Committee under the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The committee will select the final candidate through personnel verification, followed by the Minister of Economy and Finance's appointment proposal and presidential approval to finalize the new president.

Ban, in a phone conversation with Asia Economy, was reserved about confirming his application but did not deny it. Inside and outside the Sejong government offices, Ban's application is interpreted as a move with seniority in mind. He left the Budget Office after serving as Vice Minister of the Ministry of Planning and Budget in 2008, then worked as a professor at Sogang University, and served as Senior Secretary for Jobs at the Presidential Secretariat from July 2017 to June 2018. Although he can be considered a Ministry of Economy and Finance official due to his background as Vice Minister of the Budget Office, this differs from the precedent where current senior officials of the Ministry moved to president positions. A senior Ministry official commented, "Sometimes senior officials advance well, sometimes not, but recently it seems closer to the latter," adding, "If the presidency of the Minting Corporation is also taken by someone outside the current officials following the Public Procurement Service, it is negative for morale."

Last month's appointment of the Public Procurement Service Administrator was also disappointing from the perspective of senior Ministry officials. A politician was unusually appointed to a position traditionally held by a senior Ministry official after retirement. The previous administrator, Jeong Moo-kyung, was appointed after serving as Director General of Planning and Coordination at the Ministry. Since 2010, among the 28th Administrator No Dae-rae to the 35th Administrator Jeong, only two administrators, Min Hyung-jong (from the Public Procurement Service) and Jeong Yang-ho (former Director General of Energy Resources at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy), were not senior Ministry officials.

Although Kim Jung-woo, the current Administrator, is technically from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, he left the Ministry after serving as Contract System Manager in 2015 and is distant from senior official ranks. Considering that current senior Ministry officials are roughly from the 36th Administrative Examination class, seniority and experience in the Ministry seem to have played less of a role than his career as a ruling party member of the National Assembly.

A Ministry of Economy and Finance official said, "Senior Ministry officials at grade 1 or above are unable to move to the Public Procurement Service and remain stuck," adding, "This inevitably leads to a bottleneck in personnel appointments for department and division heads in a chain reaction."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.