Bureaucrats still wanted at big firms

By Park Si-soo

Nearly 60 percent of the 1,200 bureaucrats who retired in the past five years have found jobs at major conglomerates, financial companies or law firms.

Samsung Group has recruited the most former government officials (135), followed by Hyundai with 78, LG with 40, Hanwha with 25, Lotte with 25, KT with 22, SK with 22 and CJ with 16, according to data released by Rep. Lim Soo-kyung of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy.

Nearly 21 percent of the retirees, or 257, were from the Ministry of National Defense, the biggest source of retirees. The National Police Agency came second with 156, followed by the presidential office Chung Wa Dae with 92, the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office with 69, the National Tax Service with 61, the Board of Audit and Inspection with 41 and the National Intelligence Service with 37.

Companies claim the retirees are valuable in many ways, including building bridges with state agencies to ensure efficient communication, or mapping out feasible strategies based on an in-depth understanding of state policies.

Yet critics are concerned that these people also help strengthen the cozy ties between companies and the government, which the former often abuse to win business favors or to cover up wrongdoing.

“With former officials operating as lobbyists, companies put pressure on state agencies to ease regulations or to win state approval for controversial projects they have pushed forward,” the lawmaker said.

A corporate executive echoed this view, saying that former officials, especially those retired from ranking positions, were an “effective tool” to pressure the government.

“Korean people normally put a high value on human networks, which means incumbent officials cannot easily ignore the requests of their former colleagues,” the executive said, asking to remain anonymous.

Unlawful lobbying of government officials and politicians has long been considered a major cause of corruption and other illegalities.

Mindful of this, President Park Geun-hye has tightened regulations to make it harder for outgoing bureaucrats to work for companies.

Under the regulations, during the first two years after retirement, the bureaucrats are banned from working at companies whose core business involves issues the bureaucrats handled during their last five years in office. An ethics division at the Ministry of Security and Public Administration is in charge of examining the ethical appropriateness of post-retirement careers.

Despite such measures, critics say there are still regulatory loopholes that enable many retired officials to transform themselves into advocates of corporate greed.

In June the country’s biggest steelmaker POSCO tried to hire a veteran industrial bureaucrat to handle its relations with the government. The company dropped the plan amid a flurry of criticism.