[Exclusive] 34% of Union Chiefs Have Ruled for Over 12 Years... Regional Nonghyup Becoming a 'Small Kingdom'

As the 3rd nationwide simultaneous cooperative head elections concluded this year, it was revealed that the proportion of Nonghyup cooperative heads serving three or more terms exceeds 30%. With an increasing number of cooperative heads exercising strong authority in their regions through long-term tenure, criticism labeling them as 'small kingdoms' continues to emerge.

According to data on the 'Composition Ratio by Number of Terms Served by Cooperative Heads' obtained by Asia Economy on the 15th through the office of Shin Jeong-hoon, a member of the National Assembly's Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock, Food, and Maritime Affairs Committee from the Democratic Party, as of March this year, there are a total of 364 cooperative heads serving three or more terms, accounting for 34% of the total 1,112 cooperative heads affiliated with the Nonghyup Central Association.

Among them, 77 are serving four terms, making up 7% of the total, and 50 (5%) have served five or more terms. Notably, for non-standing cooperative heads who have no term limits, there are even two cooperative heads who have served ten or more terms. Park Joon-sik, the cooperative head of Seoul Gwanak Nonghyup (age 82), was elected this year, marking the highest number of terms at eleven, and Hong Seong-ju, the cooperative head of Chungbuk Bongyang Nonghyup (age 70), also achieved ten terms.

According to current law, the term of a standing cooperative head is four years, with the possibility of two consecutive re-elections, allowing a maximum tenure of 12 years. For non-standing cooperative heads, the term is also four years but with no limit on re-election. Even for standing cooperative heads, it is possible to serve multiple terms by taking a break and running again. Because of this, among standing cooperative heads, 23 have served four terms, and eight have served five or more terms. For non-standing cooperative heads, 54 have served four terms, and 41 have served five or more terms.

Examining the tenure of long-serving non-standing cooperative heads (four or more terms), the shortest tenure started in 2014 and, if serving until the term ends in 2027, totals 13 years, with 15 individuals serving over 20 years. Considering cases without available data, the number is expected to be even higher. For those with ten or more terms, considering past precedents where terms lasted two or three years, it equates to ruling for about 30 to 40 years.

Cooperative heads wielding king-like power over everything from agricultural product distribution and sales to financial businesses have caused various problems such as workplace harassment, embezzlement, and preferential loans during their long-term rule. Recently, controversy arose when an employee of a regional Nonghyup in Jeonbuk was suspected of taking extreme measures due to workplace harassment, and last year, an employee who embezzled 5.1 billion KRW at a regional Nonghyup in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, was sentenced to prison.

Especially due to the desire for long-term rule, allegations of election fraud and opaque elections have been consistently raised during every election. In response, Assemblyman Shin emphasized, "We need to revitalize policy elections and change the election culture so that healthy competition can take place with visions for farmers and fishermen."

Decades-Long Rule to Be Prevented... National Assembly Also Proposes Related Bills

In the National Assembly, bills to prevent long-term rule by cooperative heads and executives of regional Nonghyup have been steadily proposed. This is because various incidents continue to occur mainly in the mutual finance sector, and the 'king-like power' of cooperative heads has emerged as a fundamental problem.

Assemblyman Shin proposed a partial amendment to the Agricultural Cooperative Act the day before, which includes a provision to limit the re-election of non-standing cooperative heads.

Current law stipulates that standing cooperative heads of regional Nonghyup can only be re-elected twice, but there is no term limit for non-standing cooperative heads, allowing them to serve long terms.

In some regional Nonghyup cases, after serving as standing cooperative head three times, the bylaws were changed to a non-standing cooperative head system with unlimited re-election, allowing continuous service as a non-standing cooperative head, and various abuses have not ceased.

The amendment specifies Article 48, which currently only covers the term of standing cooperative heads, to include "cooperative heads (including both standing and non-standing terms)".

Regarding the background of the amendment, Assemblyman Shin stated, "Since long-term tenure of one person in a key position can lead to various corruptions and abuses, it is necessary to limit the term of cooperative heads."

Additionally, Assemblyman Yoon Jae-gap of the Democratic Party proposed an amendment to the Agricultural Cooperative Act that limits the number of re-elections for non-standing cooperative heads, directors, and auditors of Nonghyup cooperatives to two times. Assemblyman Yoon Jun-byeong of the Democratic Party also introduced a bill to prevent continuous tenure exceeding 12 years for non-standing cooperative heads and key executives.

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