Heads of 3 public firms face dismissal for lax management

Three state-funded corporation chiefs are facing dismissal and three others received a regulatory warning for negligent management, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.

In its announcement of the result of the 2014 assessment of 116 government agencies and public firms, the ministry said it has asked President Park Geun-hye to lay off two chiefs.

They are Korea Resources Corp. president Koh Jung-sik and Korea Midland Power CEO Choi Pyeong-rak, both of whom took office in 2012 during the Lee Myung-bak administration.

The Finance Ministry also called on Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Yoo Il-ho to discharge Korea Infrastructure Safety & Technology Corp. chairman Jang Ki-chang, who has been serving in his post since November 2013.

The three public firms were given the lowest score of “E” in the six-step grading from S to E in the government’s yearly assessment, which looks at earnings, debt, management conditions and incidents of bribery.

Though several more firms were given E ratings, their chiefs avoided the ax as they had been in their posts for less than six months, said the ministry. Other E-rated firms had their highest post vacant.

Apart from the discharge recommendations against the three chiefs, three other CEOs have been warned, as their firms or agencies were given the second-lowest rating.

They were Korea National Oil Corp. CEO Suh Moon-kyu, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Corp. Cho Seok and Korea Meteorological Industry Promotion Agency CEO Lee Hee-sang.

Heads of six more firms given D also averted the state warning thanks to their short period in office.

No government agency or firm was given the highest grade, S, in the 2014 evaluation. Fifteen of the 116 were given A, followed by 51 with B and 35 with C.

The ministry said in a statement that the overall performance of the 116 agencies and firms improved compared to previous years.

“(Their collective) net profit expanded from 5 trillion won ($4.5 billion) in 2013 to 11 trillion in 2014,” it said. “(They) also scaled back outstanding debt by 35.3 trillion won.”

They saw debt curtailment exceed their initial target of 32.2 trillion won last year.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)