‘Parachute’ appointments by the Yoon administration

It has been tallied that 140 individuals from President Yoon Suk Yeol's Presidential Transition Committee and his election campaign team, including those from the Presidential Office and the ruling People Power Party hold key posts as heads, executive directors, and inspectors of domestic public corporations and quasi-government institutions. This is drawing criticism as a continuation of parachute appointments for political rewards, despite President Yoon stating in October 2021, when he was still a presidential candidate, that he would not appoint people from his campaign to leadership or executive positions in public institutions.

According to an analysis conducted by The Dong-A Ilbo on Tuesday, in collaboration with Rep. Jeong Il-yeong from the opposition Democratic Party of Korea, who serves on the National Assembly's Economy and Finance Committee, 140 individuals at 90 domestic public corporations and quasi-governmental institutions were found to be from the ruling party, the transition committee, or the campaign team. Of these, 120 were not directly related to the jobs they were appointed to. The analysis showed that 25 individuals were from the Office of the president, the transition committee, or the campaign team, while 77 were from the People Power Party and its predecessors, the Saenuri Party and the Grand National Party. Eighteen were former prosecutors or National Intelligence Service agents. Job relevance was assessed based on their experience in related fields and their work at standing committees overseeing the relevant ministries responsible for the public enterprises and quasi-government institutions.

The average salary for the heads of these 90 institutions was 160 million won, and for executive directors, it was 160.54 million won.

Under current law, executives of public institutions are appointed by the minister or the president after a candidate is recommended by the institution's board of directors and reviewed and approved by the Public Institution Steering Committee (PISC). "Once they pass the PISC, they can receive multi-million won salaries, and many of the PISC members are from President Yoon's campaign team, excluding the two ex-officio government members," Rep. Jeong pointed out.


Ji-Hyun Kim jhk85@donga.com