Fundamental Block on "Parachute Appointments and Revolving Door" ... NongHyup Launches Internal Reform

Implementation of "Improvement Plan for the Executive Candidate Recommendation Committee"

Fundamental Block on Direct Intervention by the Central Federation

To Be Applied Starting with Executive Appointments at the Central Federation in the First Half of This Year

The National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NongHyup) has decided to completely overhaul its personnel recommendation structure in order to fundamentally block the so-called "parachute appointments and revolving door" controversy. This marks the beginning of internal reforms aimed at strengthening the independence of personnel authority.

On May 7, NongHyup announced that it had prepared this "Improvement Plan for the Executive Candidate Recommendation Committee."

Exterior view of the NongHyup Headquarters.

First, NongHyup will expand the number of external organizations recommending committee members from the previous five (two upper-level agricultural organizations and three universities) to eight (three upper-level agricultural organizations and five academic societies). In addition, by introducing a multiple recommendation method, NongHyup will enhance the diversity of its Personnel Recommendation Committee. The verification process has also been strengthened through open recruitment of executive candidates, in-depth interviews, and reference checks.

Direct intervention by the central federation has been fundamentally blocked. When forming the Executive Candidate Recommendation Committees for subsidiaries of the Economic Holdings Company, the participation of personnel from the central federation will be excluded, and the proportion of outside directors will be increased to more than half. Furthermore, the executive candidate committees of the Economic Holdings Company subsidiaries will be operated separately by sector—agricultural economy and livestock economy—in order to strengthen expertise.

NongHyup will implement the revised plan immediately. For the central federation, the new system will be applied starting with the appointment of outside directors whose terms expire in the first half of 2026.

Lee Kwangbeom, Chairman of the NongHyup Reform Committee, stated, "Starting with this personnel system reform, we will faithfully implement all 13 recommendations of the Reform Committee," adding, "Through self-initiated reform, we will become an organization trusted by both farmers and the public."

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