"Victory and Reinstatement" Choi Chang-hak, 19th President of LX: "Restoring Honor Against a Shameless and Unashamed Government"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] "Such incidents, where a certain arrogant and immoral power intoxicated by authority operates state affairs at will and disrupts the operation of public institutions, must never happen again."

Choi Chang-hak, the 19th president of Korea Land and Geospatial Informatix Corporation (LX), who won a legal battle and was reinstated after being unfairly dismissed, stated this in a position paper on the 21st explaining the dismissal process and reasons for the lawsuit.

President Choi, who took office in July 2018, was investigated by the Blue House Public Service Inspection Team over allegations of power harassment against subordinates and was dismissed in April last year.

The reason for dismissal at the time was that he accompanied his secretary and driver when going out for early morning exercise and used company cars and staff for personal errands. Additionally, during the process of promoting LX's drone education center, he signed a business agreement with Gyeongsangbuk-do before the candidate site review was completed, causing controversy.

Regarding this, President Choi said, "I started exercising together with their consent, and even then, it was only on schedules that did not interfere with meetings or business trips, about 1.6 times per week," and questioned, "Is arriving one hour early to work for physical training with consent considered power harassment?"

He also claimed, "We signed an MOU with local governments for the development of the spatial information industry without any legal or substantive issues," and added, "Certain individuals distorted this to incite regional sentiments, then turned it into newspaper articles, delivered them to local lawmakers to question at the National Assembly audit, and repeatedly used cunning tactics to have it widely reported again."

President Choi filed a lawsuit immediately after dismissal, and the Seoul Administrative Court Administrative Division 1 (Chief Judge An Jong-hwa) ruled in favor of former President Choi on the 26th of last month. The court judged that "although it was a disposition infringing on status benefits, prior notice or opportunity to submit opinions was not given according to the Administrative Procedures Act, and the grounds and reasons for the disposition were not sufficiently presented, making the dismissal illegal."

President Choi said, "The first trial ruling by the court on the 26th of last month clearly shows that the dismissal order issued on April 3 last year was carried out illegally for completely unjust reasons," and criticized, "This was a grave mistake that destroyed the public corporation and caused serious confusion by intentionally siding with or being swayed by the slanderous agitation of a distorted faction, harming not only the innocent party but also the public corporation."

He emphasized, "To prevent recurrence of such cases, establish justice in the national society, and restore the honor of the public corporation and the party involved, the President, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the current 20th president of LX must take responsible follow-up measures."

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