[Editorial] Government expansion

Whichever of the top three candidates is elected as the next president, the administration is likely to be significantly expanded.

The three candidates ― Park Geun-hye of the ruling Saenuri Party, Moon Jae-in of the main opposition Democratic United Party and independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo ― all favor a big government and make no bones about expanding it.

This is disturbing in light of Parkison’s law ― that bureaucracies tend to get bigger even when no conscious efforts are made to expand them.

Of the three candidates, Moon is the most aggressive in pursuing a big government. He pledged to reinstate all of the three ministries disbanded by President Lee Myung-bak ― the Science-Technology, Maritime Affairs-Fisheries and Information-Communication ministries.

He also promised to upgrade the Small and Medium Business Administration to a ministry; to revive the Korea Independent Commission against Corruption and establish under its wing an independent investigative agency against high-ranking public officials; and add 30,000 new officers to the police.

In addition, he pledged to create various presidential commissions to deal with issues such as job creation, balanced regional development and relations between small and large companies.

Park has also promised to revive the Maritime Affairs-Fisheries Ministry and proposed to set up a new ministry, tentatively named the Ministry of Future, Science and Technology. This new ministry is a reincarnation of the disbanded Science-Technology and Information-Communication Ministries.

She also pledged to create a commission on equal opportunity and to increase the police force by 20,000.

Ahn promised to launch the Ministry of Future Planning, a de facto revival of the Economic Planning Board that was abolished in 1994. He said the new ministry would deal with long-term tasks facing the nation.

Ahn also said he would set up presidential commissions to tackle chaebol reform, job creation and educational reform.

The three candidates have shown a tendency to promise the creation of new agencies each time they unveiled polices in certain areas. As there remain many areas for which they have not yet disclosed their policies, their lists of new agencies will be further expanded.

A candidate may propose to set up new ministries or commissions to implement his policies more effectively. Yet a government shake-up should be promoted under a well-thought-out big picture. Otherwise, the entire organization could go awry, making it difficult for each ministry to carry out its functions efficiently.

Therefore, the three candidates should unveil their visions of how the government should be run before disclosing reshuffle plans in a piecemeal fashion.

The candidates have also been proposing to establish new ministries without giving due consideration to the accompanying increases in fiscal spending. The creation of new ministries ultimately implies a larger burden on taxpayers. They should disclose how their plans would be funded.