Gwangyang City Denies Allegations in Yeosu MBC Report on Public Employee Hiring... Not True

False Reports Not Based on Facts Will Face Legal Action

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] Jeonnam Gwangyang City (Mayor Jeong Hyun-bok) issued a press release on the 26th stating that the content of Yeosu MBC's report on the 23rd titled ‘Did someone who didn’t appear at the interview pass? Suspicion of irregularities in public service recruitment’ is not true, and announced that it will take legal action.

The city claimed that the content reported by Yeosu MBC regarding the public service recruitment interview held last September was not based on facts and merely quoted an unverified informant’s words, packaging it as ‘suspicion’ in the report.

They refuted the report stating, “A candidate who did not come to the interview room was on the list of successful candidates,” and “If this is true, it means that the candidate either did not attend or was given convenience to take the interview late and was passed.”

According to the city, “The public service and civil petition police recruitment interviews conducted in September last year were carried out under very strict procedures while complying with quarantine rules amid the COVID-19 outbreak.”

Out of 894 applicants, 9 were excluded due to not meeting qualification requirements, and among the remaining 885, 102 were absent, so the final 783 candidates took the interview over two days.

The interviews started around 9 a.m. with external personnel participating as interviewers. The entrance was blocked 15 minutes before the start of the exam, and only candidates who had entered the waiting room proceeded with the interview.

Considering the COVID-19 situation, candidates were divided by team, time, and location to conduct interviews, and evaluations were carried out according to the order of candidates listed on the evaluation sheets after confirming absentees.

The interviews were conducted over two days, divided into sessions at 9 a.m., 1 p.m., and around 4:30 p.m., resulting in 71 successful candidates.

They emphasized that it is practically impossible for someone who did not attend the interview at their scheduled time to have passed under these procedures.

Application submissions were held over two days starting September 14 last year at the Community Center from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. to avoid rush hours and prevent crowding at the document submission site due to the COVID-19 situation.

They also strongly denied Yeosu MBC’s report claiming “a successful candidate passed without submitting documents” as false information.

They stated that the application itself, which is essential for verifying various qualification requirements, personal information, and evaluation criteria, must be submitted first for the interview to be possible, and that the city’s personnel administration system is not sloppy.

Applications received are stored for six months according to relevant laws and then destroyed; currently, the applications have been destroyed, but documents such as the public service recruitment plan are being retained.

A city official expressed, “We deeply regret that a credible broadcaster like Yeosu MBC caused misunderstanding and distrust among viewers by making them feel that untrue content was factual,” and added, “We will carefully analyze the incorrect matters such as distortion and exaggeration of the report, the bad impression given, and the unverified informant’s claims being conveyed as is, and will take legal action including filing a complaint with the Press Arbitration Commission.”

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