Hong Nam-ki: "For the First Time in 6 Years, 'Dismissal Recommendation' for Public Institution Heads with Poor Performance"

7th Public Institution Management Committee

Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, is delivering a greeting at the 7th Public Institution Management Committee held at the Government Seoul Office Building on the 18th.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Sunhee] Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, announced on the 18th regarding the 2020 public institution management performance evaluation results to be released that "for the first time in six years, the recommendation for dismissal of public institution heads with poor performance was included."

Deputy Prime Minister Hong held the '7th Public Institution Management Committee' at the Government Seoul Office in the afternoon and said in his opening remarks, "In light of the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) incident, we significantly strengthened the public nature related to ethical management and evaluated unethical behaviors more strictly." He added, "Overall, in addition to the 'three-axis evaluation' of public nature, efficiency, and social value, which was the focus of last year's evaluation, we emphasized the 'ethical management evaluation' this time and focused on strictly rejecting leniency."

At the meeting, the '2020 Public Institution Management Performance Evaluation Results and Follow-up Measures' were reviewed and approved. Deputy Prime Minister Hong said, "No 'Outstanding S-grade institutions' appeared in this year's evaluation either, marking 10 years without an S-grade," and added, "We hope that institutions will emerge next year that leap forward as first-class public institutions." Since 2011, when Korea Airports Corporation received an S-grade, no other public institution has achieved this rating in management evaluations.

Hong further explained, "Compared to last year, the number of institutions rated average (C) decreased, while the proportion of good or higher grades (A, B) and poor or lower grades (D, E) relatively increased," interpreting this as "a result of strict evaluations highlighting performance differences under crisis conditions."

In particular, regarding LH, which sparked public outrage due to the 'land speculation' scandal, Hong stated, "Additional measures will be included considering the seriousness of the misconduct."

Hong also emphasized, "As digitalization accelerates following the COVID-19 outbreak, the 'Big Blur' phenomenon, where boundaries between industries and countries become blurred, is accelerating. Public institutions are required to practice 'global standard management' to compete internationally," and urged, "Public institutions should create success stories and become role models for the private sector." He added, "Each public institution must take the lead in adapting and transitioning to meet the growing demand for social value expansion, such as Environment-Social-Governance (ESG) management, which has been recently emphasized," and noted, "The realization of such social values should be approached from an 'investment' perspective, not as a cost or obligation." He also stressed safety and ethics to prevent major accidents.

Meanwhile, the term Big Blur refers to the phenomenon where boundaries between industries and sectors rapidly disappear, centered on the convergence of boundaries between producers and consumers, small and large enterprises, online and offline, and products and services. It was first introduced in 2013 in the book All the Boundaries You Knew Are Disappearing by Jo Yong-ho.

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