Make reshuffle transparent

The Lee Myung-bak administration recently named new heads of state-run corporations and state institutions.

Looking at the newly appointed officials, a question arises whether the personnel reshuffle was based on performance or not.

In fact, most of the new heads are linked to President Lee in some way or another. There is no doubt that the Lee administration is following an old practice of previous administrations whereby the top seats in governmental organizations are distributed to allies of the president.

In order to prevent the administration from doing this, the public has been urging the government to conduct the personnel reshuffle in fair and transparent ways.

But the reshuffle was off-track in the first place as President Lee’s close allies were appointed to coveted seats in government.

It even gave rise to new coinages such as “Ko-So-Young” and “Kang-Bu-Ja.” These two terms initially referred to Korean actresses, but they also poke fun at President Lee’s partisan nominations.

For example, Ko-So-Young refers to people who are closely linked with President Lee through Korea University, where Lee graduated. He attends Somang Church and Youngnam, which comprises the Gyeongsang provinces, is Lee’s home region.

Now the Lee administration openly designates his friends to top seats in public corporations.

The administration should realize that Lee’s nominations had played a decisive role in causing the public to turn away from his government.

For these reasons, the government should have appointed people with talent, not people with ties to Lee. That would be the first step for the administration to win back the heart of the public.

Some might argue that this personnel reshuffle was conducted fairly.

But if we look at the people who have been appointed, it is hard to say that they are not related to President Lee or key officials of the Lee administration.

The government should not cause misunderstanding because the public is enraged as it is by imports of U.S. beef and a personnel reshuffle favoring Lee’s allies.

It is not yet too late.

The Lee administration should face reality and conduct the personnel reshuffle in a transparent manner.

Otherwise, it will not regain the public’s trust.