Personnel hearings for two heads of public institutions begin on the 15th and 16th... “We thoroughly verify whether or not we have returned the favor.”
(Changwon = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Jeong-hoon = After the launch of the 9th popular election, the personnel hearing function of the 13th Gyeongnam Provincial Council is expected to be strengthened compared to the previous assembly when the People Power Party was the absolute majority party.
According to the Provincial Council on the 13th, the Economic and Environmental Committee will hold a personnel hearing for candidates for Lee Hyo-geun, chairman of the Gyeongnam Credit Guarantee Foundation, on the 15th during the 436th regular meeting, and for Park Tae-hoon, director of the Gyeongnam Robot Land Foundation, on the 16th.
After a public contest, the province decided that Mr. Lee Hyo-geun, who served as the chairman of the Gyeongnam Credit Guarantee Foundation from January 2023 to last June, would again be a candidate for appointment as chairman.
In addition, former Gyeongnam Trade CEO Park Tae-hoon was selected as a candidate for the new Gyeongnam Robot Land Foundation director, replacing former director Choi Won-ki, whose term ended at the end of June.
In the 13th Provincial Council, out of 68 provincial council members, 44 are from the People's Power Party, 23 are from the Democratic Party of Korea, and 1 is an independent, making the People's Power Party the majority party.
However, there were only 4 Democratic Party members out of 64 total members. As the number of Democratic Party members increased significantly compared to the previous assembly in which the People Power Party had an absolute majority, an atmosphere was created to more thoroughly verify the job performance ability, qualifications, and morality of the agency head candidates appointed by Governor Park Wan-soo of the People Power Party.
Kim Kyung-soo, representative of the Democratic Party of the Provincial Council, said, "We will carefully look into whether Governor Park Wan-soo is showing gratitude by appointing a person who is not competent or has moral issues as the head of a public institution. If there is a problem, we will sharply point it out and inform the residents of the province."
The Provincial Council will hold personnel hearings one after another in the second half of the year, starting with candidates for appointment as heads of the Gyeongnam Credit Guarantee Foundation and Gyeongnam Robot Land Foundation.
The Gyeongnam Provincial Personnel Hearing Ordinance stipulates that among the 17 public enterprises and investment-funded institutions under the province, 9 with a quota of 100 or more or an annual budget exceeding 30 billion won are subject to a personnel hearing for the head of the institution conducted by the standing committee under the jurisdiction of the Provincial Council.
Among the 9 institutions, 5 of them, including the Gyeongnam Credit Guarantee Foundation, Gyeongnam Robot Land Foundation, Gyeongnam Techno Park, Gyeongnam Culture and Arts Promotion Agency, and Gyeongnam Investment and Economic Promotion Agency, whose positions are vacant or whose term of office has ended at the end of the 8th popularly elected term, will be subject to personnel hearings in the first year of the 9th popularly elected term.
The personnel hearing for candidates for appointment as heads of institutions such as Gyeongnam Techno Park, Gyeongnam Culture and Arts Promotion Agency, and Gyeongnam Investment and Economic Promotion Agency, which are currently undergoing a public offering process or will soon begin a public offering, will be held during a special meeting in October or a regular meeting in November to December.
The Provincial Council is receiving reports from citizens to check whether there are any qualifications, defects, or violations of the candidates for appointment as heads of the Gyeongnam Credit Guarantee Foundation and Gyeongnam Robot Land Foundation.
