As the Financial Supervisory Service's authority has recently been strengthened, more retired executives and employees are moving to law firms. As large financial companies responding to disciplinary actions and penalty surcharges by the financial authorities have become major clients of law firms, demand for job changes among FSS executives and employees is also increasing. Many former FSS staff who join law firms lobby the FSS, prompting some inside the FSS to call for self-reflection on staff heading to law firms.
According to the financial sector on the 7th, among FSS retirees who were subject to this month's employment review by the Government Public Official Ethics Committee, a Head of Team-level employee who sought to move to Lee & Ko received a deferred decision.
Political appointees of the national and local governments and executives and employees of organizations related to public office are subject to employment restrictions for three years from the date of retirement. They cannot move to places related to the duties they handled while in office. The Financial Supervisory Service is not a public institution, but this standard applies.
Recently, the Ethics Committee has tended to interpret the scope of the FSS's work broadly and apply strict employment reviews. In May, two FSS employees who sought to move to Coupang failed the review.
FSS staff moving to law firms has increased in step with the strengthening of the FSS's authority and standing. Reemployment at law firms by FSS employees, which was just one case in 2016, rose to 14 cases each in 2022 and 2023, when former Governor Lee Bok-hyun was in office. Lee, a close aide to former President Yoon Suk-yeol, expanded the FSS's standing by involving himself in overall financial policy.
Even in 2025, when current FSS Governor Lee Chan-jin, a close aide to President Lee Jae-myung, took office, there were as many as 10 cases of executives and employees heading to law firms. Of the 75 public officials reemployed at Kim & Chang from 2021 to recently, 23 were from the FSS, the largest share.
Those from the FSS take on roles such as regulatory response, litigation strategy development, and internal control design at law firms. In this process, it is said that their main work as former officials is to grasp internal trends through current FSS employees.
Inside the FSS, complaints are surfacing as civil complaint calls from former executives and employees who moved to law firms continue. In particular, younger employees unaccustomed to preferential treatment for former officials are said to be sensitive to these issues.
An FSS employee said, "In the past, there was the idea that if retired seniors did well, positions would open up for those in office," adding, "These days, there are so many retirees in law firms or financial companies handling FSS government relations that it is hard to respond to them all." The employee continued, "Among younger staff, there are also voices saying that retiree government-relations work that rises to the level of disrupting work should be banned."