Gyeongnam Provincial Government Labor Union: "Searching Employees' Cars and Homes to Find Stolen Documents Is Too Much"

On the afternoon of the 1st, a post was uploaded on the website of the Gyeongnam Provincial Government Employees' Union claiming that the process of searching for the stolen documents and the culprit in the recent theft incident of the fixed-term public official appointment exam documents at the Gyeongnam Provincial Government was unfair.

The post stated that a senior official demanded a confession from internal staff and searched the employee's vehicle and home.

The Gyeongnam Provincial Government Employees' Union is criticizing the response of the senior official involved in the theft of recruitment documents.
[Photo by Lee Seryeong]

The union held an emergency press conference that afternoon, asserting, "Senior official A exerted undue pressure on internal staff and made statements that labeled internal employees as potential criminals, violating human rights, during the process of finding the culprit before the police apprehended them."

"An internal investigation was conducted where 30 employees formed teams to investigate each other," the union said. "Even if it was suspected to be an inside job because no signs of external intrusion were found at the time, searching personal cabinets and investigating vehicles and homes was beyond common sense," they criticized.

Han Jin-hee, the union chairperson, emphasized, "We should not just let it go with the attitude that the issue is resolved once the culprit is caught. Illegal acts or unjust actions beyond authority must be thoroughly identified and addressed, and such incidents must not be repeated."

Apology and Explanation from Senior Public Officials. [Image source: Gyeongnam Provincial Government Employees' Union website]

A department official explained, "On the day of the report, we confirmed the documents were missing after arriving at work, and since they might have been mixed with other documents, we sought consent from all department staff and formed internal teams to search for them."

Senior official A, who was identified as the person involved, issued an apology stating, "I am deeply sorry for causing concern due to the theft of recruitment documents. The matter was serious, and since the announcement of successful candidates was scheduled for the next day, we tried to resolve the issue by considering all possibilities."

He added, "There was no intention other than to find the documents, but I deeply reflect on not considering the employees' perspectives and will be more cautious in the future."

Earlier, on the 30th of last month, a man in his 30s, identified as A, was arrested on suspicion of breaking into a department office at the Gyeongnam Provincial Government at around 12:45 a.m. and stealing official documents related to the fixed-term public official appointment exam from a cabinet.

It is known that A entered the building by climbing the exterior wall using a ladder because he could not enter through the security entrance of the government building.

Gyeongnam Province completed interviews on the 18th of last month and announced the final successful candidates on the 31st. It was reported that A was not on the list of successful candidates regardless of the incident.

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