"It Seems to Have Become Overambitious"... Moon Pyeongsanchaekbang Withdraws Volunteer Recruitment Amid 'Passion Pay' Controversy

"Clarification: 'Recruiting Volunteers for Public Interest Projects'"

Former President Moon Jae-in's Pyeongsan Bookstore announced the cancellation of volunteer recruitment following controversy over 'passion pay' related to the volunteer recruitment.

On the 8th, Pyeongsan Bookstore stated through social media (SNS), "We apologize to those who applied to volunteer for the Pyeongsan Bookstore Foundation," and added, "We are withdrawing the volunteer recruitment for now."

Former President Moon Jae-in is giving a greeting speech at the opening commemorative lecture (Meeting with writer Jeong Ji-a) at Pyeongsan Bookstore in Habuk-myeon, Yangsan-si, Gyeongnam, on the afternoon of the 27th. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Earlier, on the 5th, Pyeongsan Bookstore posted a volunteer recruitment notice, announcing that they would recruit 50 volunteers on a first-come, first-served basis from this month until December. However, it was announced that lunch would only be provided to volunteers working full-day shifts of 8 hours among three time slots: morning, afternoon, and full day, which sparked controversy over 'passion pay.'

The Pyeongsan Bookstore side explained, "The volunteer recruitment was intended for public interest projects that the foundation plans to carry out, such as village guidance, village maintenance, and reading books to others," adding, "Although the public interest project programs have not yet been finalized, volunteer training is necessary, and especially for the reading volunteer work, professional training might be required, so we intended to organize a volunteer group in advance, but it seems this was overambitious."

They continued, "We will withdraw the volunteer recruitment for now and, when necessary in the future, announce the required public interest projects through the website and recruit volunteers among foundation members," and apologized, saying, "We are sorry for causing confusion."

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