(EDITORIAL from the Korea Times on Dec. 19) - Personnel Shake-Up

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has become the target of a
drastic personnel shake-up, almost 10 months after President Lee Myung-bak took
office. It is necessary for the ministry to conduct massive personnel revamping
in a bid to smoothly implement Lee's market-oriented education reform. It appears
that such reform has made little progress in the face of opposition from
left-leaning groups.
Seven top-level officials at the ministry tendered their resignation en masse to
Minister Ahn Byong-man on Tuesday. Three others at the National Tax Service also
offered to quit. Some critics claimed that the officials were forced to resign as
part of efforts by the presidential office to replace them with pro-Lee officials
who will faithfully carry out the Chief Executive's policies.
Anyone can understand the President's intention to conduct a large-scale shake-up
in order to inject fresh air into officialdom and to put the right men in the
right places. Politicians, bureaucrats, businesspeople and ordinary citizens
often say that personnel management is far more important than any other thing.
Upon his inauguration, Lee formed his Cabinet by filling ministerial posts with
close confidants. But he was criticized for appointing some disqualified
loyalists as top policymakers.
But many high ranking civil servants, mostly assistant ministers and director
general-level officials, have kept their posts even after the government changed
from progressive to conservative. Against this backdrop, Cheong Wa Dae explicitly
expressed its strong dissatisfaction with those officials, accusing them of
dragging their feet on Lee's reform. Some even branded the ranking officials as
``leftists" still stuck to the populist policy lines of Lee's liberal
predecessor, Roh Moo-hyun.
Although the government denied that the mass resignation was designed to purge
leftists, the main opposition Democratic Party along with other progressive
groups slammed Cheong Wa Dae for taking the lead in forcing out those officials
who were appointed during Roh's five-year rule. It is not desirable to categorize
the anticipated shake-up as a conflict between the leftist remnants of Roh and
the newly emerging rightist group of conservative President Lee.
Civil servants, be they high ranking or low level, ought to serve the people and
the nation. They should maintain political neutrality and independence. They must
not be influenced by political and ideological struggles between leftists and
rightists. Therefore, the personnel revamp should be carried out in a way that
ensures a well functioning government. President Lee must have felt frustration
at the stagnation of his reform: to revise left-leaning textbooks, to reinforce
English proficiency among schoolchildren and to overhaul the college entrance
exam.
In fact, Lee has not produced successful results in his conservative policies
based on pragmatism. He had to suffer from setbacks due to his hard-line North
Korea policy, the resumption of U.S. beef imports and a failure to revive the
economy amid the global financial crisis. So it is inevitable for Lee to push the
government shake-up to directly control state affairs and government ministries.
We hope he will put the right men in the right places in order to build up his
political leadership and thus restore public trust and confidence in his
administration.
(END)