[2020 National Audit] The Divine Workplace Hanman Gong... Performance Bonuses Paid to Contracted Educators with No Work Records

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] It has been revealed that long-term commissioned trainees at the Busan, Incheon, and Ulsan Port Authorities continued to receive performance bonuses despite not working during their training periods.

According to the National Assembly audit data submitted by the Busan, Incheon, and Ulsan Port Authorities to Jeong Uncheon, a member of the People Power Party on the Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock, Food, and Maritime Affairs Committee, over the past five years, these port authorities paid performance bonuses totaling approximately 1.08 billion KRW to 30 employees who had no work performance due to commissioned training.

In the past five years, Busan Port Authority paid about 360 million KRW in performance bonuses to 14 commissioned trainees, Incheon Port Authority paid about 630 million KRW to 12 commissioned trainees, and Ulsan Port Authority paid about 90 million KRW to 4 commissioned trainees.

Busan, Incheon, and Ulsan Port Authorities are not in a financially comfortable position to be paying performance bonuses to employees undergoing commissioned training without any work performance.

Busan Port Authority’s net income has been decreasing every year, and its debt ratio has been rising. The net income, which was 69.497 billion KRW in 2017, decreased annually to 60.319 billion KRW in 2019, while the debt ratio increased by 10.4% from 45.6% in 2017 to 56% in 2019.

Incheon Port Authority has also seen a decline in net income and an increase in debt ratio since 2017. Net income dropped from 17.7 billion KRW in 2017 to 13.3 billion KRW in 2019, and the debt ratio sharply rose from 35% in 2017 to 53.3% in 2019.

Ulsan Port Authority’s net income also decreased, and its debt ratio increased. Net income fell by 1.5% from 30.266 billion KRW in 2017 to 29.82 billion KRW in 2019, while the debt ratio rose from 23.52% in 2017 to 24.12% in 2019.

Despite the deterioration of these financial indicators, Busan, Incheon, and Ulsan Port Authorities have been paying performance bonuses even to employees undergoing commissioned training without any work performance.

On the other hand, Yeosu Gwangyang Port Authority, despite improving its management indicators such as reducing its debt ratio from 30.5% in 2017 to 26% in 2019, has not paid management evaluation performance bonuses based on work performance to commissioned trainees.

Assemblyman Jeong pointed out, "Although the financial indicators of the authorities have worsened every year, they continue to pay performance bonuses to long-term commissioned trainees," and added, "It is an excessive benefit that long-term commissioned trainees receive performance bonuses despite having no work performance."

He continued, "Public funds are being used for performance bonuses for long-term commissioned trainees who have no work performance," emphasizing, "Related regulations must be revised to prevent the waste of taxpayers' money."

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