Four Years of the Moon Administration: Half of Financial Public Corporation Executives Are 'Nakhasan' Appointees

4 out of 10 Auditors and Non-Executive Directors Are 'Parachute and Favor' Appointments
Key Positions Held Despite Lack of Expertise... Criticism of Double Standards

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-ho Kim] Over the four years since President Moon Jae-in took office, 40% of auditors and non-standing directors in financial public institutions have been filled with 'Camcorder' personnel (Election Camp + Code + Democratic Party of Korea). Despite President Moon's inaugural pledge not to appoint 'parachute or reward personnel' to public institutions, their proportion has actually increased. As individuals lacking professional expertise occupy key positions, criticisms have arisen that the 'double standards' have gone too far.

On the 30th, Asia Economy analyzed auditors and non-standing directors of seven financial public institutions (KDB Industrial Bank, Export-Import Bank of Korea, IBK Industrial Bank, Deposit Insurance Corporation, Korea Housing Finance Corporation, Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, Korea Asset Management Corporation (Kamco)) based on public disclosure data from the public institution Alio system. The analysis revealed that about 42% are not free from suspicions of being 'political parachute' appointments. Although financial public enterprises require more expertise than other public enterprises due to their nature, nearly half of the positions are filled by personnel lacking qualifications.

Regarding auditor positions, which play a crucial role in checking the institution head (CEO), monitoring internal corruption and misconduct, and supervising accounting tasks, five major public institutions?KDB Industrial Bank, Export-Import Bank, IBK Industrial Bank, Korea Housing Finance Corporation, and Deposit Insurance Corporation?were classified as having 'parachute personnel.' A representative figure is former Democratic Party lawmaker Jeong Jae-ho. Jeong, who served as the secretary of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee during the 20th National Assembly, currently holds an auditor position at IBK after his 21st general election bid was unsuccessful. Kim Jong-cheol, an auditor at the Export-Import Bank, is also a lawyer who provided legal advice to Moon Jae-in's presidential campaign.

The highest proportion of parachute personnel among non-standing directors, equivalent to outside directors in private companies, is found at KDB Industrial Bank. Three out of five non-standing director positions are classified as parachute appointments. Former Gangwon Research Institute Director Yuk Dong-han, appointed at the end of June last year, ran as a Democratic Party candidate in the 21st general election but lost in the party primary and now serves as a non-standing director. Non-standing director Lee Yoon is classified as a 'code personnel' due to overlapping tenure with KDB Industrial Bank Chairman Lee Dong-geol at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade.

Korea Credit Guarantee Fund also has a large number of parachute personnel. Non-standing director Park Mi-hye, appointed in February, is the head of the Gyeongnam branch of the Lawyers for a Democratic Society (Minbyun) and served as co-chair of the Gyeongnam Election Countermeasures Committee in Moon Jae-in's 18th presidential campaign. Kim Gong-hoe, appointed on the same day, was a member of the National Growth Subcommittee of the Presidential Policy Planning Committee and was responsible for the Moon administration's income-led growth and economic democratization policies. Non-standing directors Han Seung-hee and Seo Jong-sik served as Industry and Communications Secretaries during the participatory government and as Democratic Party candidates for mayor of Gwangyang, Jeonnam, respectively.

At the Deposit Insurance Corporation, ruling party-affiliated personnel occupy many senior positions. In March, former National Assembly Secretariat senior expert Park Sang-jin was appointed as a standing director. He previously ran as a Democratic Party preliminary candidate in last year's general election. In October last year, former Democratic Party Policy Office Chief Lee Han-gyu was appointed as an auditor.

Other financial public institutions such as Kamco and Korea Housing Finance Corporation also have a significant number of non-standing directors closely connected to the Democratic Party or the Moon Jae-in administration. At Kamco, 4 out of 8 non-standing directors and at Korea Housing Finance Corporation, 3 out of 7 are classified as 'parachute personnel.'

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