Moon vows to eradicate 'illegal practices' in public sector

By Kim Yoo-chul

President Moon Jae-in pledged Wednesday to eradicate “illegal practices” at public firms and organizations to make their services more public oriented.

“We've seen cases of irregularities and illegal activities which favored those connected with the haves and the wealthy,” Moon said at a special meeting with the heads and officials from 240 public agencies, including state-owned firms and government commissions. “Some of them lost their core capabilities as they failed to meet the best interests of the public”

Moon said government agencies should deliver the performance the public needs and expects.

“What works today is a more disciplined approach with measures that win majority backing from the public,” Moon told the meeting in the provincial city of Wonju, southeast of Seoul. “I can say public agencies must use their given authority for the public.”

Moon talked of the importance of advancing systems because “innovative” public agencies make it easier for the public to access their services. Public agencies should master the shift from “simply administrating services” to regularly engaging and empowering citizens by communicating with them using “various measures,” he said.

During the event, Moon said the public was dissatisfied over hiring irregularities based on nepotism and favoritism at public agencies and larger private companies.

Despite the President's reform efforts since taking office last year, allegations of widespread favoritism and nepotism at public and private companies, as well as in the local jobs market, continue to make headlines. This has diffused the effects from his key policy of boosting local economic growth by adding jobs in the public sector.

Moon also defended his “income-driven” economic growth principle despite rising controversy about the policy, saying the initiative was not a matter of choice.

“South Korea is pursuing a paradigm shift in its economy based on three key economic policies _ income-led growth, innovative-centric growth and growth with fair-competition,” Moon said. “The sustainability of growth depends on how we address inequalities between the haves and have-nots.”

The remarks are his response to rising calls from the opposition parties to revise the government's signature economic growth strategy given weaker jobs data, growing household debt and a widening income gap despite a recent decision to increase the minimum wage by 16.4 percent.

Moon said the country will follow the global trend of decentralization and fragmentation by moving more authority from the center to the periphery.