By Lee Hyo-sik
The Ministry of Employment and Labor is undergoing a drastic personnel reshuffle, after its minister asked six deputy-minister-level officials to tender their resignations before a regular manpower shakeup next month.
With the expulsion of 13 “incompetent” mid-ranking civil servants over the past two months, the ministry has been at the center of President Lee Myung-bak administration’s drive to reform a seniority-oriented and lifetime employment system that is the backbone of governmental organizations.
Ministry officials downplayed the announcement that the six officials had been asked to step down, Tuesday, saying it was just a decade-long customary practice ahead of a planned personnel reshuffle.
In January, a large number of the remaining ministry officials are expected to be promoted or transferred to other positions.
“Some have raised the possibility that asking senior officials to quit is part of the ministry’s campaign to kick out incompetent and corrupt employees. But it is not true,” the ministry said in a statement. “In the past, many high-ranking officials were also asked to resign before a large-scale human resource reshuffle.”
A ministry official said some of them retained their positions, while others had to leave, stressing the ministry’s recent move is just part of its routine personnel management.
When civil servants are promoted to deputy-minister-level positions or higher, they are required to retire from the civil service. They then sign a temporary contract with the government, meaning they can be dismissed at anytime.
The six include three deputy ministers at the ministry’s headquarters, two standing members of the National Labor Relations Commission and a chairman of the Seoul Labor Relations Commission.
Employment and Labor Minister Bahk Jae-wan also said deputy ministers are not beneficiaries of job security provided to government workers, adding that asking senior ministry officials to resign has nothing to do with the ministry’s ongoing effort to weed out incapable and unfit employees.
Before serving as an aide to President Lee in February 2008, Bahk was a professor at Sungkyunkwan University and worked at the Ministry of Finance after passing the high-ranking civil servant exam.