Jinju City Disputes Gyeongnam Province Audit Results... Reviews Reconsideration of Reexamination Related to Lee and Tongjang Training

It Is Not a Violation of Group Training Guidelines... Inconsistent with Other Cities and Counties

Jinju City Hall Exterior (Photo by Jinju City)

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] Jinju City in Gyeongnam Province has decided to review the reexamination of the Gyeongnam Province inspection results related to the training trip of neighborhood leaders to Jeju.

Gyeongnam Province stated that the small-scale group infection that occurred after the neighborhood leaders of Jinju City returned from the Jeju training trip was due to ignoring the guidelines of Gyeongnam Province and proceeding with the training. Accordingly, the province issued a warning to the Jinju City institution and imposed severe disciplinary actions on three related public officials who accompanied the group training, and light disciplinary actions on two others.

Jinju City, despite having already apologized on behalf of the neighborhood leaders and the city before this inspection, expressed that the results were different from expectations and decided to review the reexamination.

According to the inspection results of Gyeongnam Province for cities and counties within the province, neighborhood leaders from frontline cities and counties also went on training trips nationwide, including Jeju, around the same time. Some local governments even conducted Jeju training trips before Jinju City, but only received light disciplinary actions or admonitions.

The city stated that although Gyeongnam Province sent an official letter advising to refrain from group travel, the advisory period was from October 17 to November 15, and the neighborhood leaders’ Jeju training trip was held from November 16 to 18, so it was not a violation of the guidelines.

The official letter was a ‘recommendation’ not a ‘prohibition,’ and the COVID-19 infection among the neighborhood leaders was not contracted in Jeju during the training trip, but rather one leader was already infected at a nightlife establishment in Changwon before the trip. Therefore, the training itself was not the cause of the infection.

Regarding this incident, Jinju City stated, “Going forward, Jinju City will actively respond to COVID-19, including proactive quarantine measures,” and pledged to restore the honor of Jinju City as a model city for quarantine.

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