Gyeonggi Province Spokesperson: "Increase in Provincial Office PR Staff Due to Conversion of Contract Workers to Regular Employees"

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province claimed that the increase in personnel in the provincial government’s spokesperson office after Governor Lee Jae-myung took office was due to the conversion of dispatched contract workers to regular positions, and that the number of publicity personnel per resident still remains at about half the national average for metropolitan governments.

On the night of the 7th, Gyeonggi Province criticized through a statement issued under spokesperson Kim Hong-guk’s name, saying, "The report on the 7th titled ‘Lee Jae-myung increased Gyeonggi Province’s publicity staff by 50% before the presidential election’ is a shocking article that uncritically accepted political claims that distorted the facts."

Earlier, some media outlets including Korea Economic Daily, based on National Assembly audit data from People Power Party lawmaker Cho Soo-jin, criticized Gyeonggi Province’s publicity administration, questioning whether public officials who should work for public taxes and residents were being used for election campaigns.

In response, Spokesperson Kim said, "It is true that the number of publicity staff increased from 95 in 2018, right after Governor Lee’s inauguration, to 141 this year," but added, "However, the details of the increase are clearly different."

He continued, "The increase of 46 publicity personnel in Gyeonggi Province from 2018 to 2021 includes 21 converted regular employees who were previously dispatched contract workers," and emphasized, "It is absolutely not true, as some media reported, that the publicity staff was increased to promote Governor Lee’s personal policies ahead of the presidential election."

He also stated, "The remaining increase of 25 personnel corresponds to essential publicity staff recruitment considering Gyeonggi Province’s population (13.8 million), budget growth, field support personnel, administrative environment, and workload of the publicity department," and criticized, "It was wrong to uncritically accept and exaggerate the claim that publicity personnel increased by nearly 50% without considering these factors."

Spokesperson Kim particularly pointed out that Gyeonggi Province’s publicity personnel per resident is still the lowest nationwide and provided evidence.

He said, "One publicity official in Gyeonggi Province is responsible for 95,337 residents," which is "about twice the national city and province average of 54,514 residents per official."

He further explained, "The appropriateness of publicity personnel should be judged comprehensively by considering the local government’s budget size, population, policy beneficiaries, and administrative demand for policies," and added, "Due to administrative environmental changes such as the surge in various administrative demands in 31 cities and counties scattered across Gyeonggi Province?including rural, fishing, mountainous, and border areas?as well as population and budget increases, some increase in publicity personnel was necessary."

Finally, Spokesperson Kim appealed, "In the COVID-19 situation, fake news, misinformation, distorted and exaggerated reports are causing national division and inflicting great harm on suffering citizens," and urged, "The media should thoroughly verify politicians’ claims and report only the truth."

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