Did the President Cause an Accident?

The post of the head of the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) presently remains vacant, as no one has yet been named to succeed Kang Chul-kyu, former chairman of the organization, who finished his term in office on March 9.

KFTC announced that Vice Chairman Kang Dae-hyung would serve as an acting chairman starting Friday.

The same situation occurred in March 2003 when Kang Chul-kyu was appointed as the chairman three days after his predecessor Lee Nam-ki resigned. Back then, however, the post was made vacant, as Lee had announced his resignation with his term still remaining.

The Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act stipulates that “when the chairman of the Korea Fair Trade Commission cannot do his duties due to an accident, the vice chairman works on his behalf.”

However, there has been much controversy even among insiders of KFTC over whether the current situation in which the chairman post has been made empty and the president has not yet appointed a successor should be construed as “an accident.”

Against this backdrop, KFTC has studied many judicial cases in search of legal ground upon which the aforementioned article can apply to the current situation.

In fact, the commission found the decision of the case regarding the appointment of former acting Prime Minister Kim Jong-pil in March 1998.

The decision states, “The Government Organization Act stipulates that when the prime minister cannot fulfill his duties due to an accident, an acting prime minister works on his behalf.” The “accident” here refers to general cases where the prime minister cannot do his duties.”

Citing this, KFTC is arguing that there is nothing wrong with its current situation in which the chairman post remains vacant as the president has not yet appointed a successor is “a general case where the chairman cannot do his duties,” thereby being an accident.

If the KFTC’s interpretation of an “accident” is right, then President Roh Moo-hyun can be said to have caused “an accident” by failing to appoint a replacement for the former KFTC chairman.

The vacancy of the post is expected to be prolonged as it is reported that President Roh will appoint the new KFTC chairman as well as the governor of the Bank of Korea whose term ends on March 31 after the president returns home from his visit to Africa on March 14.

Among the likely KFTC chairmen candidates are Kim Byung-il and Cho Hak-kook, both former vice chairmen.

Hyun-Jin Park witness@donga.com