Former Incheon Tourism Corporation President Hwang Jun-gi Cleared of 'Preferential Hiring Allegations'

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] Former Incheon Tourism Organization President Hwang Jun-gi, who was indicted on charges of giving preferential treatment and hiring close associates during the recruitment process, has been acquitted.

The Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Kim Jae-hyung) announced on the 4th that it upheld the lower court's ruling, which acquitted former President Hwang in the appeal trial on charges of obstruction of business.

In November 2015, former President Hwang was indicted without detention on charges of obstructing the duties of recruitment screening committee members by giving preferential treatment to Mr. A during the hiring process for a level 2 experienced position as head of the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) Business Department at Incheon Tourism Organization, including lowering the applicant qualification requirements.

Mr. A had worked as a level 3 employee when Hwang served as president of the Gyeonggi Tourism Organization from 2011 to 2014. At that time, Incheon Tourism Organization changed the previous qualification for level 2 experienced applicants, which required "experienced personnel with more than 5 years of work experience at the manager level or higher in companies," to "experienced personnel with more than 10 years in international exchange cooperation or international conference attraction fields, or managers at team leader level or higher with more than 5 years of experience in these fields."

The prosecution argued that when Mr. A did not meet the hiring requirements, former President Hwang had the HR staff reissue the announcement with lowered standards without the resolution of the organization's board of directors, and that Mr. A applied under the relaxed conditions and was ultimately selected as the successful candidate among nine applicants.

However, the court's judgment differed. The first and second trials stated, "It is difficult to conclude that former President Hwang's actions harmed the fairness and appropriateness of personnel affairs or that he was aware that his actions harmed such fairness and appropriateness," and did not recognize the charge of obstruction of business.

Furthermore, since the organization's CEO has the authority to be involved in HR decision-making when deciding on employee recruitment, the court judged that former President Hwang's instruction to HR staff to change the recruitment announcement was merely a work-related directive and did not constitute the 'exercise of power' that would amount to obstruction of business.

The Supreme Court also agreed with the lower courts' judgment.

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