Governor Kim Dong-yeon: "All Misconducts of Public Officials Including Sexual Misconduct and Drug Smuggling Are My Fault... Apologize to the Residents"

Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dong-yeon is giving an opening speech at the weekly department heads meeting held at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government on the 16th.

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Kim Dong-yeon, Governor of Gyeonggi Province, apologized to the residents of Gyeonggi Province regarding the recent incidents involving sexual misconduct by public officials at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government and drug smuggling cases.

On the afternoon of the 16th, during the weekly department heads meeting held at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government office, Governor Kim stated, "Recently, disgraceful incidents such as sexual misconduct and drug smuggling involving our Gyeonggi Provincial Government officials have occurred repeatedly, which should never happen," and added, "I sincerely apologize to all the residents of the province."

He continued, "As the person responsible for the provincial administration, I am accountable for personnel management and supervision of the staff. I sincerely apologize as the governor for the misconduct committed by these public officials," reiterating his apology.

He also added, "Although these are very few cases, I am sorry that such misconduct may negatively affect the reputation and evaluations of other public officials who are diligently working in their positions."

Governor Kim specifically stated, "In the case of the sexual misconduct incident, we have taken all necessary measures according to the principle of protecting the victim, including immediate isolation, suspension from duties, and removal from positions of the perpetrators. We are actively cooperating with the investigation and will take strict actions once the investigation results are out. We will do our utmost to ensure that the victim protection principle is upheld from beginning to end."

He emphasized, "Going forward, we will firmly establish discipline in the public service with a zero-tolerance policy to prevent such incidents from happening again."

Earlier, it was recently confirmed that a Korean man who was arrested at Sydney Airport in Australia on the 8th of last month for attempting to smuggle drugs worth approximately 700 million won is a public official of the Gyeonggi Provincial Government. Additionally, on September 28th, a special-position public official at the provincial government was caught and reported to the police for secretly entering a women's restroom inside the government building and illegally filming a woman in the adjacent stall.

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