Thoughts on the Reform of the Personnel System of the Head of Public Institutions for Improving Demo

The purpose of the current research is to analyze the appointment and tenure system for heads of public institutions in Korea, identify the issues, and provide recommendations. We argue that heads of public institutions should possess both the expertise to run these institutions and democratic accountability to the elected president and their administration. By law, public institution heads are supposed to be appointed based on merit; however, in practice, political appointments are common. Regarding tenure, public institution heads are guaranteed a three-year term, but in reality, especially during periods of presidential transitions, they are often expected to step down either voluntarily or due to political pressure. To address the gap between legal provisions and reality, this research proposes a new appointment system that harmonizes the spoils system and the merit system, with an emphasis on the accountability of public institution heads. First, we suggest preserving the president's authority to politically appoint heads of public institutions, which secures democratic accountability, while applying the qualification standards used in the open competitive system for senior civil servants to ensure a minimum level of expertise. Second, while the president retains the authority to appoint public institution heads, an Independent Verification Committee (tentative name) should be established to verify the expertise of candidates and monitor any unqualified appointments by the president. Lastly, concerning the tenure of public institution heads, this study recommends abolishing the three-year term and, similar to political appointees, removing fixed terms altogether to expand the president's appointment authority and enhance the political accountability of public institution heads. We expect that our recommendations can help resolve the recurring conflicts over public institution appointments that have plagued successive governments.