Controversy Over Corporate Bank Parachute Appointments in the National Assembly

"If the reasons for asset growth are not transparently disclosed, the public cannot trust"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] As the controversy over the parachute appointment of senior executives at IBK Industrial Bank of Korea's subsidiaries was mentioned in the National Assembly, criticism arose that IBK President Yoon Jong-won has not properly disclosed information regarding his wealth accumulation process.

On the 22nd, Kang Min-guk, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee from the People Power Party, questioned Financial Services Commission Chairman Eun Sung-soo about whether he was aware of the parachute appointment controversy involving executives at IBK's subsidiaries. He stated that while there are issues with the subsidiaries, the root cause lies in the fact that IBK President Yoon Jong-won is a former Blue House economic secretary. The criticism is that Yoon, as a former Blue House economic secretary, is turning a blind eye to parachute appointments and failing to fulfill his responsibility to manage the subsidiaries properly.

Through materials submitted by IBK, Kang pointed out that the newly appointed vice president of IBK Service, a subsidiary of IBK, is a former Blue House administrative officer, and viewed the appointment of a ruling party politician with no experience in finance or public enterprises to an executive position as a de facto 'parachute appointment.'

He also criticized that President Yoon has not submitted materials requested regarding the process of wealth accumulation. He said, "There is no law that prohibits public officials from increasing their wealth, and having a lot of wealth is not a problem. However, if the reasons for wealth accumulation are not transparently disclosed, the public cannot trust them."

Kang stated, "President Yoon had assets worth 2.47 billion KRW in 2019 when he was the Blue House economic secretary, but his assets increased to 2.99 billion KRW in 2021 while serving as IBK president. We requested an explanation regarding the process of accumulating over 500 million KRW in just two years and the purchase of real estate, but we did not receive it." He added that requests were also made for materials concerning ▲ the nature of increased debts related to real estate sales contracts and other liabilities, ▲ reasons for the increase in family members' deposit assets, and ▲ the contract for raising the key money deposit during his time as Blue House economic secretary, but no responses were received.

Kang warned, "If President Yoon does not provide an explanation, suspicions will grow," and criticized, "IBK has many problems, so why have the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service failed to detect them?"

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