Gyeonggi-do Imposes Fines on High-Ranking Retirees with Unfair Employment and Those with Incomplete Asset Declarations

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] The Gyeonggi Province Public Officials Ethics Committee has decided to impose fines on 12 retired public officials who were employed arbitrarily among those subject to employment screening, and on 6 heads of public-related organizations under the province and city/county council members who were insincere in property reporting.

The Gyeonggi Province Public Officials Ethics Committee announced on the 8th that it held a committee meeting on the 2nd and made this decision, then notified the relevant public officials to the competent court.

The Ethics Committee conducts a full survey twice a year to prevent collusion between public officials and private sectors and to enhance the effectiveness of the employment screening system. In the second half of last year, a full survey was conducted on 1,351 retired public officials subject to employment screening, identifying 12 arbitrarily employed individuals.

If a person is employed arbitrarily without undergoing employment screening, a fine of up to 10 million KRW can be imposed. Additionally, if employed at an institution subject to employment screening with close work relevance, dismissal measures can be taken to prevent the exercise of undue influence.

Furthermore, among 457 individuals subject to property disclosure (12 heads of public-related organizations under the province, 445 city/county council members), a focused review was conducted on the acquisition process of real estate and sources of income. Six individuals were found to have violated the obligation of sincere property reporting by falsely recording registrable property, cases of illicit property increase, or serious mistakes in reporting, and were fined. In such cases, fines of up to 20 million KRW can be imposed.

Besides the 6 individuals subject to fines, comprehensive judgments were made based on the scale and type of misreported property and the circumstances of the errors, resulting in disciplinary actions including warnings and corrective measures for 13 people, and supplementary orders for 25 people.

The Ethics Committee plans to continue focused reviews on the acquisition process, property formation, and sources of income for 1,013 public officials below grade 4 in the second half of the year, especially those whose property has increased excessively relative to income, or who have new real estate transactions or financial debts.

The Ethics Committee has increased the number of committee members from 11 to 13 to strengthen the independence and democracy of employment screening for retired public officials and property audits of public officials.

Accordingly, 9 out of the total 13 committee members are civilian members, and it is expected that more in-depth reviews will be conducted.

Kim Young-mi, Chairperson of the Gyeonggi Province Public Officials Ethics Committee, stated, "Practicing public ethics, whether big or small, will be a great force in changing the public service community," and promised, "We will continue to strive to operate the public ethics system strictly and fairly to create a public service community trusted by the residents of the province."

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