0305 - Is Korea becoming paradise of revolving-door symbiosis?

Local law firms have long vied to recruit retired judges and prosecutors to exploit their lingering influence on incumbent former colleagues. This practice, called the “favorable treatment of former officials,” has infiltrated into many other areas of state administration _ the economy, defense and even diplomatic circles _ basically wherever lobbying can affect results.  
  
Nothing shows this better than the list of nominees for President-elect Park Geun-hye’s inaugural Cabinet. 

A case in point is Park’s pick for justice minister, who received 1.6 billion won ($1.45 million) over 16 months from a large law firm, meaning the former prosecutor earned his previous yearly salary every month after retirement. Little wonder then that her nominee for prime minister, who also made 30 million won a month for years, said the amount was below-average for his caliber.

The money involved may be a smaller amount but even more egregious was Park’s designate for defense minister, who worked as a lobbyist for a German arms dealer, and received 200 million won for his services. 

Five years ago, Koreans felt an ominous foreboding regarding the personnel appointments to the administration of then President-elect Lee Myung-bak. This was crammed with cronies from his region, school and church. Many of them also showed ethical lapses in areas such as real estate speculation, academic plagiarism, tax evasion and dodging mandatory military service. Add to these some of the most glaring cases of revolving-door symbiosis and deduct church, and one has Park’s first Cabinet.

The nation’s first female President said she would prioritize job skills in selecting her people, while relatively ignoring other factors such as regional origins. However, it seems as if she placed priority on the candidates’ asset-swelling skills while neglecting their ethical standards.

Former public officials can of course work for private businesses after retirement, and even receive jaw-dropping wages, depending on their abilities. But they must stay there instead of seeking to return to officialdom. They must choose between money and reputation, or people will think their resumption of public office is nothing but another stepping-stone to even higher-paying jobs afterwards. 

Many other nominees have similar problems with the only difference being their scale and degrees of seriousness. Opposition lawmakers say they have found more than 40 suspicions involving Park’s nominees for 17 Cabinet posts. We hope, but are uncertain, that not all of these will be true. The time is long past for Korea to drastically toughen ethical rules for retired officials, and _ implement _ them.  

While campaigning, Park posed herself as the “prepared woman President.” Watching her performance over the past two months or so, Park neither seems to be prepared nor even gender-conscious: there are only two female ministers, or just one beside that for the ministry of gender equality.

All this is certainly a baleful omen. There is talk that Park’s administration will be the one that most unashamedly reneges on its campaign promises. All nominees in question should bow out or Park ought to withdraw her designation. Koreans have endured five years of extremely self-centered leadership _ they can ill afford to stand another.