[Fn Plaza] Public Service Land and the Plum Book

Let’s start with a somewhat old story. It is about Johnny Yune, who has since passed away. In 2012, during the presidential election, news broke that he had been nominated as auditor of the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) after serving as co-chair of Park Geun-hye’s campaign committee for overseas voting. The backlash was immediate. Critics pointed to his background as an entertainer with no experience in tourism, and to what they saw as an overtly reward-based appointment for a campaign loyalist. The then-opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy denounced the move, saying, "This administration is putting on a comedy" and adding that appointing someone with neither expertise in tourism nor the ability to perform the auditor’s duties, simply because he helped with the election, was "an insult to the public." The appointment went ahead anyway, and Yune remained in the post for 1 year and 10 months until he resigned for health reasons.
Exactly 20 years ago, in 2006, something similar happened. The presidential office under the Roh Moo-hyun administration asked the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) to appoint a specific person as vice president of Arirang TV and as head of the Korean Film Archive (KOFA). But the ministry, which oversaw the matter, repeatedly delayed the announcement and signaled its opposition indirectly. Its reason was that the nominee lacked expertise and was unqualified. In response, Cheong Wa Dae abruptly dismissed the vice minister of MCST for what was seen as a slight, and not long after, a report surfaced saying that a presidential aide had threatened, "We’ll drag this out to the end." The then-opposition Grand National Party blasted the move as "an abuse of power that would fit only in a gangster movie." Under public pressure, Cheong Wa Dae eventually gave up on the appointment.
Patronage appointments are once again drawing criticism. This time, the controversy involves the National Jeongdong Theater and the Korea Culture & Tourism Institute. Public anger began to rise after Seo Seung-man, a comedian, was named CEO of the National Jeongdong Theater on the 10th of last month, and Hwang Gyo-ik, a food columnist, was appointed head of the Korea Culture & Tourism Institute just a week later. As in previous scandals over parachute appointments, the familiar complaints resurfaced: a lack of expertise, political bias, and the resulting damage to public value. What stands out in this case is that Culture Solidarity, a progressive civic group, also came out strongly against the appointments. At a press conference held in front of the fountain plaza at Cheong Wa Dae on the 21st of last month, the group called for an immediate end to opaque, unilateral personnel practices and for a clear reset of appointment standards in the arts and culture sector.
In fact, the controversy over parachute appointments has deep roots. The public lands once distributed by kings to their meritorious subjects are, in today’s terms, the equivalent of parachute appointments. Every administration has loudly promised merit-based hiring and balance, but in most cases those pledges came to nothing. Under Park Chung Hee, senior and junior military officers were sent into state-run companies. During the Kim Dae-jung administration, parachute appointments also seemed to fill the sky. Roh Moo-hyun, who as president-elect once warned that he would "ruin" anyone caught soliciting appointments, also said this when criticized for so-called code-based appointments: "People call it code appointments, but these parachute appointments existed in the past, exist now, and will exist in the future. If we keep saying something that will not disappear is wrong, governing the country becomes difficult." Whatever the reason, parachute appointments are an unjust personnel practice. Still, it is hard to simply dismiss the late president’s remark, which was so blunt that it was almost refreshingly candid.
That is where the Plum Book comes in. The Plum Book is a kind of presidential personnel guide used in the United States, named after the plum-colored cover of the book. First institutionalized after Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected president in 1952, it is meaningful because it transparently lists the positions a president can appoint and strictly examines what qualifications are needed for each post. In that sense, it can serve as a filter to block indiscriminate parachute appointments in advance. But the idea of introducing a "Korean-style Plum Book" has remained mostly talk, repeatedly ending up in the trash. The reason is the political world’s double standard: parties support it when in opposition, then fall silent once in power. On top of that, the desire of near-monarchical appointing authorities to preserve strategic ambiguity also stands in the way.
The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle asked in Book 3, Chapter 12 of Politics, "To whom should the best flute be given?" The best flute should go to the person who can play it best, because that allows more people to enjoy beautiful music. Michael J. Sandel, citing Aristotle, said, "That is the reason and purpose for which the flute exists," and added that "Justice means giving people what they deserve." The Plum Book may not identify the best performer, but it can help weed out the worst parachute appointments.
jsm64@fnnews.com Reporter