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| Fair Trade Commission Chairman Kim Sang-jo speaks during a press conference at the Government Complex in Sejong, Monday. / Yonhap |
By Nam Hyun-woo
The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) will eradicate its customary practice of arranging cushy jobs for retirees at big companies, after a number of former officials were indicted for exercising influence over conglomerates to hire retirees, its head said Monday.
FTC Chairman Kim Sang-jo said the antitrust agency will humbly accept the results of the prosecution's investigation into the practice, stressing the FTC is facing the biggest crisis in its history.
"Though this has happened in the past, we deeply regret that there have been inappropriate customs and corruption in the re-employment of some retirees," Kim said during a press conference. "I believe the FTC is now facing the biggest crisis in its history for losing public confidence and will fix those irregularities through a series of plans to revamp itself."
The prosecution last week indicted 12 former and current ranking FTC officials for allegedly pressuring 16 large companies to provide lucrative jobs for 18 FTC retirees between 2012 and last year. Those indicted include former FTC Chairman Jeong Jae-chan and his deputy Kim Hack-hyun.
Along with the indictment, the FTC's integrity as an "economic policeman" was severely damaged as the prosecution confirmed the commission transferred those who would retire in five years to non-investigative bureaus, so they would not be subject to a law prohibiting retirees being employed within three years by any institutions closely relevant to their FTC duties for five years before retirement.
In the plan, Chairman Kim said the FTC will not help its retirees obtain employment "under any circumstances" and will also operate an anonymous reporting system where not only officials at the FTC but also other companies can report any irregularities regarding the employment of its retirees.
Also, the FTC will reveal on its website the new positions of retirees at private companies for 10 years after leaving the FTC. Retirees who do not report their new jobs will be banned from entering the FTC.
Against the FTC's custom of reshuffling the soon-to-be-retired, Kim pledged that senior officials will be banned from working at non-investigative bureaus for longer than five years, so they could all be subject to the law.
Along with the human resources rule, the FTC said it will prohibit "any kind of private contact between its retirees and current officials" and will impose serious penalties on those who violate this rule, in order to curtail the possibility of inappropriate re-employment. Also, the commission will strengthen internal reporting for official contact between former and current officials.
Enhancing the ethics code for public officers, the FTC will ban all of its employees from attending any outside educational sessions also attended by retirees and company officials in charge of fair trade business. Also, FTC employees will be prohibited from providing any kind of paid lectures.
"Though the FTC's obligation and duty is realizing the principles of fairness and competition in the market, it has been monopolizing its authority of administering the law and has been unfair in the process," Kim said. "Since this contributed to the FTC's inappropriate practices, we will disperse the FTC's authority of administration, such as scrapping the FTC's exclusive right to file antitrust charges with the prosecution."
Separate from filing general charges with the prosecution, the FTC judges accusations related to fair trade issues before they reach the prosecution, because illegalities regarding the Fair Trade Act are only determined after comparative analysis on the economic effects of a practice.
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