[The Editors' Verdict] Between Government and Public Institutions

Seong-Yeop Lee, Professor at Korea University Graduate School of Technology Management and President of the Korean Data Law and Policy Association

In modern society, companies produce goods or services needed by consumers. However, essential goods such as electricity, roads, and railways, which are indispensable in our daily lives, are provided not by private companies but by public institutions. Public institutions are an intermediate form of organization that is neither the government itself nor a company. According to the Act on the Establishment and Operation of Public Institutions, public institutions are organizations established for the public interest rather than individual profit, and are established and operated through government investment, capital contribution, or financial support. They are classified into public enterprises, quasi-governmental institutions, and other public institutions. Public enterprises are business entities that directly produce and supply goods and services, while quasi-governmental institutions have a character of executing government tasks on commission rather than a business nature. However, an institution must have more than 50% of its revenue from its own income to be classified as a public enterprise. Other public institutions are established when the revenue criteria are not appropriate or when there is a need to guarantee autonomy.

Representative public institutions include Korea Electric Power Corporation, Korea Expressway Corporation, Korea Railroad Corporation, and the National Pension Service, which are essential to the lives of the people. By ministry, as of March 2021, the Ministry of Science and ICT had 47 public institutions, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy had 40, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism had 32, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport had 28, the Ministry of Health and Welfare had 27, and the Ministry of Education had 20, totaling 350 public institutions. The number of employees reached 409,374, which is 40% of the 1,106,552 administrative government officials as of the end of last year. Such a tremendous number of public institutions assist the government's work. Most government policies are actually implemented by public institutions, and accordingly, the places where citizens directly experience government policies are also public institutions.

The current legislation guarantees the autonomy of public institution management by ensuring a three-year term for heads of institutions to guarantee responsible management. The annual management evaluation of public institutions is also based on the premise that public institutions have autonomy and accountability. Without these, it would be impossible to hold public institutions accountable. In reality, however, much of the management performance of public institutions, based on the author's experience, is merely the execution of ministry policies. Therefore, it might be more appropriate to evaluate not only the execution performance of public institutions but also the entire policy process, including government policy formulation.

Moreover, employees of public institutions tend to have more expertise than government officials whose positions change frequently, as they work in their respective fields for a long time. However, their expertise is often ignored due to the political stance of parachute appointments coming from the political sphere and ministries, and the tendency of ministry officials who want reports and approvals on all matters. This results in public institution employees becoming even more soulless than soulless government officials.

Division of labor is not only possible horizontally but also vertically depending on the nature and scope of work. Even if ministries decide the policy direction, detailed guidelines should be set by public institutions, respecting their autonomy. Furthermore, in an era where complex and difficult policy issues are increasing, cooperative governance between the government and public institutions is essential. The relationship between the government and public institutions should not be one where the latter is merely the hands and feet of the former, but also its brain.

Seong-Yeop Lee, Professor, Graduate School of Technology Management, Korea University · President, Korean Data Law and Policy Association