Invasion of Incompetence
The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) received a D grade in its public enterprise evaluation in last year for its poor management and 20 billion won (US$19.3 million) in deficits. It is a joke of a public enterprise. However, its new management is probably not going to be able to change the KTO's path from that of a bad comedy, because its new inspector is a 78 year old comedian.
Johnny Yune, a famous comedian from the 80s, has been appointed as the permanent inspector of the KTO. He has no experience in the travel industry or running a business. His qualifications have, naturally, been called into question, and it has been discovered that his most relevant qualification is being the president of the “Park Geun-hye Supporters Group” when Park, then a presidential candidate, visited Los Angeles during the 2007 presidential campaign. He also worked for Park as the co-chair of the election measure committee for overseas Koreans last year.
In that light, who can deny that the government is using these executive positions as a reward? This is not even the only executive position to go to a political supporter of the current administration. Some even joke that the KTO mistook the word “inspector” for “thank you.” The joke works better in Korean, as both words are homophones in the language.
Comedian with a History of Assault
Even among comedians, Yune might not be the best pick for KTO inspector. Yune has a history of assault, having hit a female caddy at a golf course with golf club in 1989. When he became famous in Korea with “The Johnny Yune Show,” he went to a golf course in Gyeonggi Province with acquaintances, had a fight with a female caddy, and caused her injuries requiring two weeks of medical treatment.
Suwon District Court ordered Yune to pay 1.3 million won (US$1,250) to the victim for the injury, but instead he went back to the U.S. without paying her. He only paid up three years later, when he came back on Korean television.
Johnny Yune seems more comfortable in the U.S. than in Korea, having first left Korea for the U.S. in 1959 and getting his big break on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.” He only came back to Korea 30 years later, in 1989, to host the Johnny Yune Show. He reclaimed his Korean nationality last year, which now makes him a dual citizen.
Early this year, people started to hear rumors about him being nominated as the president of the KTO. The public was not happy and opposed the nomination. A person at the tourism industry criticized the move by saying, “The government was trying to appoint Mr. Yune as the president of the KTO, but there was too much opposition, so it could not be carried out. So it gave him the position of inspector.” He added, “This is a typical case of a parachute appointment, in which there is nothing we can benefit from.”
The term of appointment is two years, and can be extended by one year. The annual salary is 83.11 million won (US$80,807), excluding bonuses and benefits. Along with a basic salary, Yune gets a monthly allowance of 2 million won (US$1,924), a car, and a driver. This position, the second highest in the KTO next to the president, will give him the authority over the overall tasks and accounting of the KTO. One hopes that he doesn't bring a golf club to work.
A labor union member of the KTO also criticized the move by saying, “It’s wrong to appoint Yune, who has absolutely no experience in an inspector position, not to mention the travel industry,” and also, “This is the perfect case which proves that the government still considers executive positions in public enterprises as the rewards of political power.”
Yune Not Alone in KTO Unsuitability
Yune is not the only person who has benefited from parachute appointments to the KTO. His boss Byeon Chu-seok, the president of the KTO appointed this April, also received the appointment as a reward. A former professor of visual design at Kookmin University, he was the head of the media promotion headquarters of candidate Park’s Election Camp, in charge of designing leaflets for the campaign. The labor union member of the KTO pointed out, “Professor Byeon is an expert in design, not promotion,” and, “While President Park asserts as his slogan ‘straightening out the crooked,’ what I am seeing now is the most crooked thing.”
It doesn’t stop there. Former President of KTO Bernhard Quandt, better known by his Korean name Yi Cham, resigned last November after being accused of receiving sexual services at an illegal massage parlor. KTO announced that “When the business between KTO and Yi terminated, someone gave false information about this,” but Yi could not withstand the turmoil. Yi helped former President Lee Myeong-bak win the election by supporting him in the campaign, and he was nominated as a proportional delegate.
KTO Continues Poor Performance
The government has been emphasizing again and again that it will concentrate on travel as one of the five most hopeful service industries. However, it is highly doubtful that it can really develop the travel industry now that it has appointed people with no relevance to the industry as the heads of the KTO.
This year, the KTO received a D grade in a public enterprise evaluation, very low among public enterprises in Korea. The annual deficit is a whopping 20 billion won (US$19.2 million). The former inspector of the KTO, who had come from the Korean Veterans Association, received a D+ for the recurrence of inefficient management in his job performance evaluation of 2012. But this time, the government has done it again by appointing someone who might not be able to read the financial statements that explain why the organization is doing so poorly.
President Park said on Jan. 30, 2013 when she was still an electoral candidate, “There will be no more parachute appointments in the new government, for it discourages people who actually worked to get to the top,” and declared, “This time, I will not let it happen.”
Early this year, the government announced a three-year economic innovation plan and emphasized reformation of the public sector. But the promise has not been kept, even until now. Since the new administration started in May, 75 out of 153 heads of public institutions were parachute appointments. The public is dumbstruck about the appointment of Yune.
The fallout of this move has spread even beyond the KTO. There is a rumor that the former Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yu Jin-ryong, known for his outspoken comments, was dismissed for opposing the appointment of Yune. Approximately twenty days after his dismissal, Yune was appointed.