Civil Service Training: Nurturing the Driving Force of Economic Development in Korea

Civil service was the driving force of economic development in Korea for several decades from the 1960s. In the development period, comprehensive training programs were systematically conducted in order to provide government officials with the knowledge, skills, and ethics required to fulfill their responsibilities. These programs proved extremely successful in accomplishing their goals.

Korea’s civil service system is composed of 9 Grades, resembling that of the Chinese bureaucracy. It adopts a rank classification system that ranges from Grade 1, the highest, to Grade 9, the lowest. Civil servants in the Korean government are selected by competitive examination. Only those who pass an official examination administered by the central government can obtain positions in government organizations. There are three entry levels; Grade 9, Grade 7, and Grade 5.

In addition to the rank classification system, Korean civil service also adopts the closed career corps systemThe essence of this system is that its members are recognized, by themselves and others, as belonging to a group that has been recruited, selected, and trained with specific criteria and appointed or promoted to a rank that identifies their status in the group. As members of the corps they are assured lifetime employment except in the case of proven and serious misconduct.. In contrast to the position classification systemA job classification system under which one is paid commensurate with the duties performed. The duties and responsibilities of each position in an organization is described and grouped into classes in accordance with their similarities. Variations in pay are applied in proportion to differences in the level of difficulty, responsibility and qualifications required. This system originated in the United States., which emphasizes the specialization of individual officials in both recruitment and placement, the closed career corps system is based on generalist merits. In the closed career corps system, government officials are recruited based on their broad and basic knowledge; as they accumulate more experiences and practical knowledge, they are given more complex tasks to handle. Thus, the examination focuses on measuring knowledge related to governmental affairs as a means of evaluating the potential of each individual. In this system, government officials are rotated to other positions in the same organization after service of a certain time period, as they are assumed to have increased their understanding, control, and capability through accumulated know-how. The closed career corps system maintains the consistency of public administration regardless of governmental changes.

The Korean government has regarded civil service training as an important tool both for building the capacity of government officials and for controlling government bureaucracy since the 1960s. The Korean government established a centralized civil service training system at the outset in the forms of a master plan and an annual plan for civil service training, and closely supervised implementation of the training program. The plans focused on major government policy education and fostering the necessary skills to perform policy tasks. Moreover, by emphasizing public service ethics in various training programs, the central government enhanced the competence of government officials and secured their loyalty at the same time.

The training program for government officials in Korea is divided into three categories: public service ethics training, job training, and commissioned training. Public service ethics training aims to change the mindset of government officials in order to secure loyalty and support for the government.^[1]Choi, Changyong & Choe, Chang Soo (2013). Education and Training Program for Capacity Development for Korean Government Officials. Korean Ministry of Strategy and Finance. 39.View Job training is again divided into two kinds: grade-based basic job training and specialized job training. Grade-based basic training can be further subdivided into two categories: training for new employees, and refresher training. Grade-based basic job training is conducted for new employees and officials due for promotion in the same grade. Therefore, this training program teaches participants the comprehensive knowledge and skills required to perform tasks generally given at a certain position or grade level. On the other hand, specialized job training is focused on conveying a functional skill or technique and advanced knowledge to trainees over a relatively short time span. Commissioned training is defined as training provided by private and public institutions other than government training institutions. It includes both domestic and overseas training, and each of them is divided into two kinds: degree program and non-degree program.