Former Politicians, Prosecutors, Polices, and Military Officials Dominate State-Owned Compan

36 out of 40 presidents and auditors of the 20 major state-owned companies took their current positions by `top-down hierarchical appointment`. As it were, 90 percent of top officials of state-owned companies was comprised of former politicians affiliated the ruling party, prosecutors, polices, bureaucrats and military officials.

And the half of the examined subjects (20 persons) came from Honam region, revealing the regionally disproportionate appointment of CEOs of the state-owned companies.

The Economy Department of the Donga Ilbo examined yesterday the Ministry of Planning and Budget, and 40 presidents and auditors of 20 major state-owned companies that were the management announcement subjects. It reported that 10 former politicians affiliated to the ruling party including former representatives took a charge of the president as follows; Cho Hong-Kyu president of the Korean National Tourism Organization, and Kim Myung-Kyu president of the Korea Gas Corporation.

In particular, if the range widens to any officials affiliated to the ruling party including bureaucrats, the ruling party affiliates constituted 40 percent of the total (16 persons including a United Liberal Democrats personage).

7 subjects came from the power institutions such as the prosecutor office, police, and the National Intelligence Agency, and 7 subjects were former economic bureaucrats of the Ministry of Construction & Transportation and Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy, etc.. And former military officials were 6, followed by the Board of Audit and Inspection (3), private company (2), and newspaper company (1).

On the other hand, only four presidents were promoted from inside such as Goh Seok-Gu president of the Korea Water Resource Corporation, Kwak Joo-Young president of the Korea Tobacco & Ginseng Corporation.

By region, the natives of Honam region constituted the half of the examined subjects (Kwangju, Chunnam 11, and Chunbuk 9), followed by Seoul and Kyunggi (7), Kyungnam and Kyungbuk (6), Chungnam and Chungbuk (4), and Kangwon (3).

Meanwhile, the Citizen`s Coalition for Economic Justice has carried out the synthetic analysis on the problematic appointment of the president of the state-owned companies, and it will announce the result around the end of this month.

iam@donga.com