Rumors that former environment minister Lee Jae-yong had been chosen as the next head of the National Health Insurance Corporation have been circulating for some time now, even back at the stage when the government was openly accepting applications. Lee has indeed been appointed, so the rumors were true. You feel disappointment and sadness at the way this president has exercised his authority to make appointments while not listening to even the most reasonable criticism.
The criticism that this is "the pinnacle of payback appointments under the Participatory Government" is not overdone. Lee was made environment minister after he lost in the 2004 National Assembly election. Even at that point, the presidential office did not care when that move was criticized as "special treatment for an election loser." It even went so far as to invoke something it called "the need to cultivate leaders from the Yeongnam region" and use cabinet positions for election purposes. Now, not three months since losing yet again in the Daegu mayoral election, he is given the top position at the country’s largest state-run corporation. If the Blue House again asserts that this is not political consideration and payback, it will even make oxen burst out in laughter.
The presidential office had already made its choice, so there was no regard for the basics and principles of an open application process. Rumors that Lee was to be the man filled the air near the Blue House from the earliest stage of the process, so what kind of potential applicant was ever going to want to play a supporting role at that party? The government will find it hard to avoid the accusation that it essentially prevented capable people with relevant expertise from even trying, and then just went through the formalities. The Blue House says that the Participatory Government’s use of open application processes has vastly increased transparency and impartiality in the making of high-ranking appointments. But as seen in the recent controversy over its choice of vice minister of culture and tourism, the government has exercised influence even for positions over which it does not have authority in making "recommendations" or engaging in "discussions." It is shameless to call this an open application processes and a government accomplishment in the area of reform, when they are really only that in name.
One doubts if Lee is really so much the right man for the job that he is worth ignoring the goals of openly accepting applications. Other than his time as environment minister, Lee has little experience in anything directly related to the health insurance system. Responding to questions about his qualifications, the Blue House said he has "years of experience as a dentist operating a clinic." Last year, when he was appointed environment minister, it said he had "long experience as an environmental activist." It all sounds more like pathetic excuses than reasonable standards.
It was very recently that the Blue House and the ruling party found themselves in no small amount of controversy over the way the president makes appointments. What Lee Jae-yong’s appointment demonstrates is that nothing has changed about the Blue House’s exclusivist and benevolent appointment making process. One smells an arrogant attitude that almost seems to try to prove that "the making of appointments is a unique right vested in the president." The management of affairs of state always becomes improper when it ignores reasonable criticism. The Blue House should withdraw Lee’s appointment.
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