Lawmaker calls for 'term alignment' law to end entrenched public institution appointments

More than 16 months after the Lee Jae Myung government took office, a significant number of state-run enterprises are still led by chiefs appointed under the previous administration. With many executive terms already expired and some positions guaranteed for more than another year, calls are growing for institutional reform to end the recurring controversy over so-called "entrenched appointments" — a practice in which outgoing administrations fill key posts before leaving power.

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Ahn Do-geol, a member of the National Assembly's Finance and Economic Planning Committee who represents Dong-gu and Nam-gu in Gwangju, South Jeolla Province, released an analysis Wednesday of executive positions at public institutions subject to review and approval by the Public Institutions Management Committee. As of Monday, 13 of the 27 public institution chief positions were held by appointees of the previous government, and 69.2 percent of those 13 posts were not set to expire until 2027 or later.

The figures illustrate how a structural mismatch between presidential and public institution executive terms can persist for an extended period.

Forty-four positions — 14.6 percent of the total — had already passed their term expiration dates without a successor being named. Of those, eight were vacant outright, while the remaining 36 were still being filled by incumbents whose terms had ended.

However, the actual progress of new appointment processes differed from what the raw vacancy and term-expiration figures suggested.

Additional checks by the lawmaker's office found that successor selection procedures — including open recruitment — were already underway for 37 of the 44 expired positions, or 84.1 percent. Five of those 37 were labor director posts, where consultations with trade unions and other internal stakeholders were ongoing.

Seven positions had yet to begin any selection process. Four of those were at Kepco Plant Service & Engineering, where a legal dispute over the appointment of a president is pending before the courts, in effect making a new appointment impossible for now. The institutions holding the remaining three positions said they planned to move quickly to launch open recruitment and related procedures.

Given that successor selection is underway for most expired positions, and that some cases involve specific circumstances such as legal disputes or internal consultations, analysts say it would be difficult to conclude from term-expiration figures alone that the appointment process has been neglected.

Even so, the structural problem of misaligned terms between the government and public institution chiefs remains, separate from the progress being made on individual appointments.

Under the current Act on the Management of Public Institutions, chiefs are guaranteed three-year terms while directors and auditors serve two-year terms. The law also requires incumbents whose terms have expired to continue in their duties until a successor is named.

As a result, even after a change of government, chiefs appointed by the previous administration may have substantial time remaining on their terms. If a successor has not been selected by the time a term ends, the incumbent continues to serve regardless.

To address the recurring controversy over entrenched appointments at each change of government, an amendment to the Act on the Management of Public Institutions is currently pending in the National Assembly. The bill would require public institution chiefs' terms to expire simultaneously with the end of the president's term.

"Most institutions with expired terms already have open recruitment or similar procedures underway, but entrenched appointments from the previous administration and legal disputes appear to be creating significant difficulties in some cases," Ahn said. "For a fundamental solution, the National Assembly needs to move quickly on amending the relevant laws — including aligning the terms of the president and public institution chiefs."