As a person who was a Judicial Research and Training Institute classmate of President Lee Jae-myung and a former chief policy expert of the Democratic Party of Korea was included in the pool of candidates for the next president of the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC), the KDIC labor union is pushing back, saying "it would be the first time since the corporation's founding to have a president such as a politician or a legal professional with little connection to the work." Until now, the KDIC presidency has been filled by bureaucrats who handled economic policy at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), and similar agencies.
KDIC union Chairperson Kim Young-heon held a press conference on the 8th and said, "The KDIC is a pillar of the financial safety net that protects the precious assets of all 50 million people, including depositors, insurance policyholders, and financial investors, and it is the last line of defense," adding, "The president must possess essential qualities such as top-tier expertise, integrity, and a commitment to ethical management."
Kim said, "If someone unfit for the KDIC's stature is appointed and it becomes a world defined by labels such as favoritism, payback appointments, and code-based appointments, we will mobilize all our capabilities to respond forcefully."
The KDIC held interviews for presidential candidates on the 5th. The candidates included attorney Kim Sung-sik, a Judicial Research and Training Institute classmate (18th class) of the president; former KDIC standing executive director Kim Young-gil, who served as chief policy expert for the Policy Committee of the Democratic Party of Korea; and Kim Kwang-nam, a former KDIC vice president who rose from within. During the last presidential election, former Vice President Kim served as co-chair of the More Inclusive Economy Committee, a policy advisory body under the Democratic Plaza Committee, a direct-affiliated body of candidate Lee Jae-myung.
The KDIC president is appointed by the president upon recommendation by the FSC chair. The executive recommendation committee selects two of the three candidates and forwards them to the FSC, and the FSC chair recommends one of them for presidential appointment. The KDIC executive recommendation committee plans to select and forward two candidates within this month.