Sogongyeon Union: "Apology Instead of 'Dance Workshop'"... Allegations of 'Chairman's Family Favoritism' Raised (Comprehensive)

The Secretariat Labor Union of the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise held a press conference on the 10th at the Korea Federation of SMEs in Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by Sogongyeon Secretariat Labor Union

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] The Secretariat Labor Union of the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise (hereinafter referred to as KFM) recently issued an apology on behalf of the executive branch regarding the controversial "Dance Party Workshop" and raised suspicions of preferential treatment of family businesses by Chairman Bae Dong-wook.

On the 10th, the KFM Secretariat Labor Union held a press conference at the Korea Federation of SMEs in Yeouido, Seoul, and released a statement urging the KFM executive branch to take responsibility for the workshop incident.

The union stated, "On behalf of the current KFM executive branch, which has not issued a sincere public apology regarding the recent controversy over the KFM workshop, we sincerely apologize to all micro-enterprises and the public nationwide who are suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic." It added, "Despite several warnings from the secretariat staff to the executive branch not to proceed with the workshop considering the COVID-19 situation and public opinion, these were ignored. The decision was made solely by the executive branch, and the staff were unaware of the progress, including the hiring of the performance team."

The union also said, "As a result of this incident, the trust in KFM, which has been the representative organization of micro-enterprises and has worked closely with various government agencies, the National Assembly, other organizations, and micro-enterprises nationwide to address their difficulties, has been severely damaged." It warned, "This could immediately lead to discussions on budget cuts for next year, putting the positions of the staff who have passionately protected KFM at risk."

At the press conference, the union raised suspicions of family preferential treatment, stating that since Chairman Bae took office in April, the federation’s orders for wreaths and bouquets have been shifted to a company run by his wife and daughter. The union explained, "The federation usually orders about 15 million KRW worth of wreaths and bouquets annually through the Korea Florist Association or the Korea Florist Cooperative. However, since Chairman Bae’s inauguration, the orders have gradually been transferred to a family company without any particular reason, with orders amounting to 2.14 million KRW just last month."

There were also allegations that Chairman Bae collected 1 million KRW in sponsorship funds from members during the controversial workshop into a separate account. The union claimed, "Chairman Bae purchased books with subsidies to distribute at the workshop and separately received sponsorship funds, which were deposited into the account of a close aide, a certain vice chairman." The vice chairman pointed out by the union is currently known to be serving as the federation’s general affairs committee chairman.

The union explained that the reason internal issues had not been raised earlier was, "Most of the federation’s employees are on indefinite contracts, so when they refused to follow such orders, they were implicitly pressured with the message that they would not be able to keep their jobs."

Meanwhile, the union earnestly requested a meeting with Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups, asking her to step in as the competent ministry to resolve this issue.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.