People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD, Chamyeo Yeondae) has released documentation on Samsung's hiring of government officials, legal professionals, and academics. It is enough to make you talk about a "Republic of Samsung" because it shows you where Samsung gets its strength and how that strength works. According to PSPD's analysis, every time an important issue comes up, Samsung goes about intensively hiring individuals related to the situation. The result of that persistent effort is a weapon called "personal connections," a network that links people in all sorts of fields. Korean society is moved more by personal networks than by structural organization, so the strength Samsung has as a result of the relationship with hundreds of influential individuals is massive.
Hiring former high-ranking government officials or people working in the judicial branch is something that is a problem not exclusively with Samsung. However, you can see how the case with Samsung differs just by looking at its non-executive directors. The percentage of former government officials and legal professionals in Korea's listed companies is 9 to 10 percent, but in the case of Samsung affiliates over the past 7 years the percentages are 31 percent and 13 percent respectively. Of the 74 government officials who have gone to work for Samsung companies over the past approximately 10 years, 61, or 82 percent, were from supervisory bodies such as the Ministry of Finance and Economy or the Financial Supervisory Commission or former judges, prosecutors, or police.
Recently an illegal tape by the former National Security Planning Agency revealed an example of Samsung's illegal behavior. Now the country has a description of the conglomerate's personal network. At this point it becomes difficult to say it is a baseless exaggeration to call the country the "Republic of Samsung." It is time to think seriously about ways to deal with the problem. There urgently needs to be better restrictions on how former government officials find employment in the "Public Servant Ethics Law." Documentation relating to the "real name policy" system needs to be disclosed so that the policy decision-making process can be observed from outside government. It is everyone's duty to prevent a single company from influencing affairs of state and thereby threaten democracy.
The Hankyoreh, 4 August 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Samsung's 'Personal Connections' a Threat |
