Former minister calls for system reform for civil service to regain value

Lee Geun-myeon, former minister of personnel management.

South Korea’s public sector has lost its own culture and values, which has led to a series of issues raising doubts about civil service in general, according to Lee Geun-myeon, former minister of personnel management.

The problem has become more serious as public servants who do not understand the essence of the profession are trapped in an outdated personnel system,” Lee said.

The former minister also served as the head of human resources at Samsung Group.

Lee’s remarks came as criticism is mounting in Korea that public service, which has pushed and pulled the country along the path of progress, is being shaken from its roots.

The number of public servants in Korea has increased dramatically over the past five years. Starting at 1.03 million in 2017, the first year of the Moon Jae-in administration, it increased by 10.8 percent to 1.15 million last year when it was replaced by the Yoon Suk Yeol administration.

While the number has increased dramatically, the value of the public office is considered to be declining year by year.

“People want 24-hour service,” Lee said, emphasizing that soldiers, police officers, and firefighters are representative professions that are hard to compromise with work-life balance.

This is a stark reminder that while the public‘s demands and expectations for public services have increased, the sense of mission of public servants who provide them has decreased.

Lee suggested that the solution should be sought in system reform. In particular, he raised the need to overhaul the longstanding system of rotating jobs and the seniority-based salary system which he blamed for undermining professionalism and reducing motivation to work.

“The recent controversy over the World Scout Jamboree 2023 in SaeManGeum is a case in point,” said Lee. “There were 14 officials from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family who traveled overseas to prepare for the jamboree, but none of them were actually part of the current support team.”

It shows how the rotation system has a negative impact on the public service, he asserted.

The declining sense of calling to public service is also attributed to the falling attractiveness of the job.

“The concept of a job for life has virtually disappeared in the public sector,” said Park Sang-in, a professor at Seoul National University. “The private sector puts a lot of effort into recruitment and training,” he said. “The public sector, which hires 50,000 people a year, needs to change drastically.”