Gyeongnam Police Agency Refers 73 Suspects for Recruitment and Safety Corruption... Numerous Cases of Recruitment Coercion and Substandard Construction

The Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency announced on the 22nd that it conducted a special crackdown on recruitment and safety corruption within the province, uncovering 20 cases, referring 73 individuals to prosecution, and arresting 3.

According to the provincial police agency, the crackdown took place from May 8 to October 31.

Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency.
Photo by Lee Seryeong

The provincial police agency targeted three major recruitment corruption types in both private and public sectors: ▲recruitment profiteering ▲employment power abuse ▲obstruction of work, as well as three major safety corruption types in the fields of industry, facilities, transportation, and fire: ▲poor construction ▲management negligence ▲bribery.

Among these, five individuals were arrested for forcing union member recruitment and extorting money under the pretext of union operation fees at eight local apartment construction sites from 2021 to 2022, with one person being detained.

In August 2022, six people, including a public official and a construction company representative, were also caught for providing hospitality worth several million won and accepting bribes during the selection process of a company related to the metropolitan water supply pipeline construction in a local government within the province.

Special Crackdown Results on Employment and Safety Corruption in Gyeongnam Province. [Data provided by Gyeongnam Police Agency]

The provincial police agency uncovered nine cases of recruitment corruption related to employment power abuse such as forced recruitment, referring 48 individuals to prosecution and arresting 3.

They also uncovered 11 cases of safety corruption, referring a total of 25 people to the prosecution: 16 for poor construction, 3 for management negligence, and 6 for bribery.

Chief Kim Byung-woo stated, “We launched this special crackdown on corruption to establish a foundation for a fair society and create a living environment where citizens can feel safe. Even after the special crackdown ends, we plan to conduct related crackdowns regularly and will strengthen intelligence gathering to investigate strictly.”

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