This article was posted on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove site on April 7, 2025, at 4:26 p.m.
Former President Yoon Suk-yeol's dismissal last week has drawn the attention of the investment banking (IB) industry to the positions of heads of major pension funds. Some pension fund chairpersons tend to be appointed for political reasons, and such personnel can frequently be found departing before their terms end due to changing administrations.
According to the IB industry on the 7th, a prominent figure among the current pension fund heads known to be close to the Yoon Suk-yeol administration is Jeong Jae-gwan, chairman of the Military Personnel Pension Fund.
Chairman Jeong, a retired Army brigadier general, has led the Military Personnel Pension Fund since January 2023 after serving as the director of the U.S.-Republic of Korea Combined Forces Command's Civil-Military Operations Center, the operations director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the head of the Ministry of National Defense’s National Assembly Cooperation Team. He is known to be a close friend and classmate of former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun, who was considered a key figure in the state of emergency that led to former President Yoon's impeachment.
According to the industry, evaluations of Chairman Jeong's appointment were made as an 'unprecedented personnel decision' since he is a retired brigadier general, a position typically held by retired major generals or lieutenant generals. In fact, it is the first time that a brigadier general has served as the chairman since the establishment of the Military Personnel Pension Fund in 1984.
Chairman Jeong took over the baton from his predecessor, who resigned partway through their term due to the change of administration, and he too has become uncertain about his own future for political reasons. Previously in July 2022, Kim Yoo-keun, the former chairman of the Military Personnel Pension Fund, sent an email to employees stating, 'A new government has been launched and a new military leadership has been established,' adding, 'It would be greedy and an incorrect choice to try to fulfill a three-year term under the changed circumstances,' indicating his intention to resign partway, leading to Chairman Jeong's appointment in January of the following year.
Chairman Jeong has been serving since completing the term of former Chairman Kim, who served until February last year. According to the Military Personnel Pension Fund Act, the term for the chairman is set at three years, with one possible reappointment, thus Chairman Jeong's term will expire in February 2027.
Jeong Gap-yoon, chairman of the Korea Education Employees Pension Fund, which manages assets exceeding 50 trillion won, is also a prominent former politician. He served as a five-term member of the National Assembly and was vice speaker of the National Assembly during the Park Geun-hye administration. He is currently a senior advisor for the People Power Party and is well known as a 'political mentor' to former President Yoon. He was appointed chairman of the Korea Education Employees Pension Fund in December 2023, with his term set to expire in December 2026.
The position of chairman of the Korea Education Employees Pension Fund has traditionally been appointed by politicians. The previous chairman was Kim Sang-gon, who served as vice premier during the Moon Jae-in administration, and before him, Cha Seong-soo, who was the senior secretary for civil society during the Participatory Government, held the position.
Among past chairpersons of the Korea Education Employees Pension Fund, there have been individuals who stepped down with the change of administration. In 2018, Moon Yong-rin, the chairman at the time, expressed his resignation nine months before the end of his term when the Moon Jae-in administration came into power.
However, industry insiders say that it is rare for pension fund chairpersons to resign '100% voluntarily' during their terms. An insider in the IB industry noted, 'Even when resigning voluntarily, in most cases they are effectively pushed out after holding on until the end.'