[Exclusive] KEPCO Has the Highest Number of Sexual Misconduct Disciplinary Actions Among Public Institutions Under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

25 Cases in the Last 5 Years
128 Cases Across 39 Public Institutions
Trend Toward Stricter Disciplinary Measures and Scope
Severe Punishments Also for Privacy Invasion
"Discovering and Preventing Potential Cases"

Among public institutions under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) was found to have imposed the most disciplinary actions for sexual misconduct incidents, including sexual harassment. The severity of punishments for stalking behaviors such as interference in private life also showed a rising trend.

According to data obtained by Asia Economy on the 22nd from the office of Kim Jeong-jae, a member of the People Power Party, a total of 128 sexual misconduct cases were disciplined across 26 out of 39 public institutions under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy over the past five years (2017?2021). The disciplinary measures included 14 reprimands, 34 salary reductions, 59 suspensions, 19 dismissals, 1 discharge, and 1 resignation.

KEPCO handled a total of 25 related cases during this period, marking the highest number among public institutions under the ministry. The annual breakdown was 3 cases in 2017, 5 in 2018, 6 in 2019, 3 in 2020, and 8 in 2021. Separately, last month KEPCO dismissed one employee related to an internal sexual harassment case.

The main types of offenses were verbal sexual harassment (24 cases) and physical sexual assault involving contact (1 case). The perpetrators’ ranks included 13 individuals at the deputy general manager to department head level, including section chiefs, and 12 individuals at the manager to staff level. Accordingly, disciplinary actions included 4 reprimands, 7 salary reductions, 10 suspensions, and 4 dismissals.

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) was also found to have had 20 sexual misconduct incidents during this period (excluding 8 disciplinary actions taken after 2017 for cases occurring between 2014 and 2016). Following KHNP, Korea Gas Corporation (10 cases) and Kangwon Land (8 cases) ranked next.

A recent characteristic of sexual misconduct cases is the increased severity of disciplinary actions for verbal sexual harassment and the expansion of punishment scope to include serious penalties such as suspension and dismissal for stalking crimes like inappropriate demands for private meetings and interference in private life.

For example, KEPCO’s subsidiary KEPCO MCS imposed a suspension on an employee last year who persistently attempted private contact outside working hours. At Kangwon Land, an offender who caused sexual humiliation by making remarks about breastfeeding received a one-month suspension and 12 hours of community service, which are considered severe disciplinary measures.

Professor Gu Jeong-woo of the Department of Sociology at Sungkyunkwan University advised, "It is necessary to continuously operate a radar system to discover latent cases of gender issues and sexual misconduct within organizations and to prevent such incidents."

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