[Editorial] No undue reward?

President-elect Park Geun-hye was right when she said no unqualified person should be awarded with a top post of government-owned corporations or government-funded organizations just because he contributed greatly to the election of a new president. Such an appointment, she said, is a burden on not just the incumbent administration but its immediate successor.

But no one should be blamed if he turned skeptical, upon hearing her remarks, that she would put an end to an age-old practice of a new president rewarding his supporters with lucrative posts, frequently paying little attention to whether or not they had the expertise required of their new jobs.

Park was not the first president-elect to make similar comments. Almost all presidents-elect made similar promises. But few made good on them. Instead, they went one step further and exercised their influence to ensure that their protgs would be installed as chief executive officers even at those corporations the government had already privatized, most notable among them being the steelmaker POSCO.

Almost all top posts of the 286 corporations and organizations under government control are filled with those having connections with the incumbent administration. True, the corporations and organizations have the processes of screening applicants for their executive posts. But it is not unusual for the rules to be bent in favor of those with connections.

An even more blatant violation of the rules on appointments is to force people left over from the previous administration out of their posts before they have served out their guaranteed terms in office. If any of them refuses to vacate his post, he is targeted for outside audit and inspection, and disciplined for minor violations or charged with criminal offenses. President Lee Myung-bak’s administration is accused of engaging in this type of arm twisting shortly after it was inaugurated.

Worse still, the outgoing Lee administration has recently appointed some presidential secretaries to the posts of auditors at KOTRA and other government-funded organizations. Park appears to have warned against this practice when she referred to appointments to posts of corporations and organizations under government control.

But if past experience is any guide, many top posts at those corporations and organizations will be filled with people with no proven credentials. Park should be reminded that the least her administration will be required to do is make no procedural mistakes in filling the posts. She will have to guard against following the footsteps of her predecessor.