People Power Party Files Criminal Complaint Against Byun Chang-heum... Allegations of Blacklist and Favoritism in Hiring Acquaintances

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] On the 29th, the People Power Party filed a complaint with the prosecution against Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Byeon Chang-heum on charges of coercion and obstruction of business related to allegations of creating a blacklist and preferential hiring of acquaintances during his tenure as president of the Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH).

In a press release on the same day, the People Power Party stated, “Minister Byeon, during his time as SH president, instructed the creation of personnel plans marking employees as ‘pro-Park Won-soon personnel’ or ‘pro-Byeon Chang-heum personnel’ by investigating the political tendencies of SH employees, and threatened to impose disadvantages as a superior if these instructions were not followed, thereby ordering the creation of a blacklist, which constitutes coercion.”

The party also claimed, “Among the 52 newly appointed executives and employees during his tenure as SH president, at least 18 were preferentially hired due to connections with the suspect through schools, workplaces, or civic groups, thereby obstructing the legitimate hiring duties of the SH executive recommendation committee or the staff in charge of recruitment, which constitutes obstruction of business by means of intimidation or coercion.” They added, “If the hiring of acquaintances was carried out through improper requests such as hiring favors from related parties, it also violates the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act.”

The People Power Party said, “Even after the personnel hearing has concluded, related testimonies and reports continue to come in,” and added, “Minister Byeon’s wrongdoings will be fully revealed through future testimonies and reports, and we plan to actively raise issues regarding this matter.”

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