The Ministry of Finance held the 7th Public Institution Operation Committee on June 19, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Koo Yun-cheol, to review and approve the "2025 Public Institution Management Performance Evaluation Results and Follow-up Measures."
Among the five power companies under Korea Electric Power Corporation, Korea South-East Power and Korea Southern Power earned A ratings. Korea Central Power received a satisfactory (B) rating, while Korea East-West Power and Korea Western Power were rated C. Notably, Korea East-West Power and Korea Western Power were classified as institutions where fatal accidents occurred last year, making them subject to warnings for their heads.
The differing evaluations among the five power companies appear to stem from their safety performance. Kim Bong-hwan, head of the public enterprise management evaluation team, stated, "The evaluation in the safety sector was conducted rigorously, covering safety management procedures, operational methods, and the safety of partner companies," adding that the overall score for safety and disaster management dropped by 5.1 percentage points to 58.8% compared to the previous year.
He also noted, "Institutions where fatal accidents occurred were assigned the lowest scores for that indicator," and explained that those that effectively utilized new technologies like artificial intelligence in safety management or enhanced preventive safety management systems that included partner companies were rated highly.
Korea East-West Power was particularly heavily evaluated among the institutions with fatal accidents. Kim remarked, "About ten institutions in the public sector experienced fatal accidents, with Korea East-West Power and Korea Expressway Corporation having the highest number of fatalities," emphasizing that strict evaluations were applied, resulting in the lowest scores in the non-quantitative safety sector.
In contrast, Korea Southern Power and Korea South-East Power received positive evaluations for their efforts in managing the safety of partner companies. This is significant as accidents often arise from contracted projects or partner companies rather than from the public institutions themselves. Kim highlighted, "We focused on evaluating the efforts to secure safety for partner companies, and Korea Southern Power and Korea South-East Power were recognized for their support in safety, equipment rental, and joint training."
The government plans to issue warnings to 11 of the heads of the 15 institutions where fatal accidents occurred last year. This list includes Korea East-West Power, Korea Western Power, Korea Electric Power Corporation, Korea Gas Corporation, and Korea Electric Power Service. The government will also require these 15 institutions to submit separate safety improvement plans due to the serious accidents that took place.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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