4 public agency heads face dismissal for lax management

An assessment panel asked the government to fire the heads of four state-run agencies for "negligent and inefficient management," the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said yesterday.

The ministry said it is based on assessments of the management of the heads of 92 state-run corporations and institutions in 2008 made by the Public Institutions Assessment and Operation Committee.

The committee is comprised of 45 academics and lawyers. The 92 firms include 19 public companies, 61 quasi-government organizations and 12 government-affiliated agencies.

The management efficiency at the 92 public firms were divided into four categories - "Excellent" with scores exceeding 90, "Good" with scores between 70 and 90, "Mediocre" with scores between 50 and 70, and "Unsatisfactory" with scores less than 50.



The four CEOs in the "Unsatisfactory" category, whom the committee suggested be dismissed, are Korean Film Council chairperson Kang Han-seop, Korea Workers Accident Medical Corp. chief director Chung Hyo-sung, Korea Consumer Agency president Park Myung-hee and National Youth Center of Korea head Kim Dong-heun.

"The four recorded very low (scores), both in their own business performance and the compliance with the government`s public sector reform efforts," said Cho Taek, professor of Ehwa University, who is a member of the assessment committee, during a press briefing in Gwacheon.

For the past year, the government has been pushing public companies to reduce employees, cut salaries amid the economic downturn, improve labor-management relations and provide more internship opportunities as part of efforts to reform the public sector.

No CEO was included in the "Excellent" category, 24 in "Good" and 64 in "Mediocre," the ministry said.

The government warned that the 17 CEOs, whose scores were low at between 50 and 60, will also face dismissal suggestions if their performances donot improve in the next evaluation. The CEOs facing government warnings include heads of the Korea National Housing Corp. and the Korea Land Corp.

Depending on the managerial evaluation results, the government has decided to cut the maximum bonus payment for company heads to as low as 160 percent of their basic salaries from the current 200 percent. The maximum bonus for employees at public firms will be also lowered to 400 percent of base salary from 500 percent.

Ministry officials said the announcement of specific names of the unsatisfactory state-run institutions reflect the government`s strong will to continue reforming the public sector.

"The committee evaluated not only public institutions but their heads` management capability. I hope the CEOs could be aware that the government is aggressively pushing for reform in the public sector," Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun said before the meeting with the committee in Gwacheon.

No public head has been ousted due to lax management since 2001, when Park Moon-soo, then president of Korea Resources Corp., resigned after the government sought his dismissal after a managerial evaluation.

(yoonmi@heraldm.com)



By Kim Yoon-mi