Why Young Directors in Seoul Districts Became the 'Ugly Ducklings'?

Young directors at grade 4 (department heads) in Seoul's autonomous districts with 4-5 years left until retirement are blocking promotion opportunities, leading to increasing requests to transfer to Seoul City or other districts, creating a difficult situation.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] As the personnel season arrives in each autonomous district of Seoul, an increasing number of public officials are feeling both anticipation and anxiety, drawing attention.

With new district heads elected through the June 1 local elections, a wave of generational change is sweeping through Seoul’s district offices. While those who receive promotions and move to desired positions are enjoying days of joy, public officials who do not are feeling uneasy.

In particular, younger directors (Grade 4) with 4 to 5 years left until retirement are being relegated to the status of "ugly ducklings" and are in a position where they must seek new placements.

This is because when younger directors occupy positions in Seoul’s autonomous districts, it blocks a chain of promotion opportunities, causing them to become "public enemies" among their juniors.

An official from one autonomous district said, “With the new district head’s inauguration, younger directors are silently pressured to ‘transfer to Seoul City or another autonomous district,’” adding, “They probably won’t be able to sleep at night.”

Accordingly, directors born between 1967 and 1969, with 4 to 6 years left until retirement, are voluntarily seeking to move to Seoul City or other autonomous districts.

However, other autonomous districts are reluctant to accept younger directors, making it highly likely that these officials will transfer to Seoul City during the personnel reshuffle in August.

Seoul City, having a large organization and promoting based on merit, has the capacity to accommodate them.

The difficult situation faced by younger directors is interpreted as being caused by blocked promotion opportunities necessary for organizational management.

A section chief from a Seoul autonomous district expressed regret, saying, “As a newly inaugurated district head, to motivate employees to work hard, promotion opportunities must be created. But if younger directors occupy those positions, there is no choice but to apply such pressure.”

For public officials, promotion is the greatest reward. Without the possibility of promotion, it is difficult to work with full dedication and enthusiasm.

Because of this, many have expressed dissatisfaction with previous district heads who quickly promoted younger section chiefs to Grade 4.

Another team leader from an autonomous district said, “Because the previous district head promoted younger section chiefs with many years left until retirement, this phenomenon has emerged. Regardless, autonomous districts should promote section chiefs with only 1 to 2 years left until retirement to director positions to enable a chain of promotions and invigorate the organization.”

For this reason, it seems that in Seongdong-gu, it has become customary to promote section chiefs with 6 months to 1 year left until retirement to Grade 4.

Dongdaemun-gu under the 7th elected administration has done similarly.

Alongside this, there are cases where Grade 5 officials (section chiefs or dong heads) who have not received good evaluations due to reasons such as abuse of power are encouraged to transfer to other autonomous districts, drawing attention.

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