"To Shoot Real Estate YouTube"... Public Corporation Employee Leaves Early After 73 Days

243 Disciplinary Cases Occurred in 11 Agencies Under the Ministry of Industry
Widespread Misconduct Including Negligence, Economic Corruption, Power Abuse, and Sexual Harassment

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Concerns have been raised that misconduct within 11 agencies under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (Korea Gas Corporation, Korea Electrical Safety Corporation, Korea National Oil Corporation, Korea District Heating Corporation, Korea Gas Technology Corporation, Korea Gas Safety Corporation, Korea Energy Agency, Korea Mine Reclamation Corporation, Korea Petroleum Management Service, Korea Energy Foundation, and Korea Coal Corporation) has recently gone beyond acceptable limits.

On the 17th, Sehee Oh, a member of the National Assembly’s Trade, Industry, Energy, Small and Medium Enterprises Committee (Democratic Party), analyzed the 'Employee Disciplinary Status' data submitted by the 11 agencies subject to the national audit and confirmed that since May 2022, 243 employees have been disciplined for economic misconduct, sexual misconduct, drinking-related offenses, and other violations.

By type of disciplinary action, there were △97 cases of neglect of duty such as insincere performance of work △91 cases of economic misconduct including providing entertainment and embezzlement of public funds △22 cases of violations related to the Road Traffic Act such as drinking and hit-and-run △19 cases of power harassment against partner companies and colleagues △11 cases of sexual misconduct △2 cases of personal misconduct △1 case of personnel misconduct.

Regarding economic misconduct, it was confirmed that an employee of the Korea Energy Foundation embezzled about 35 million KRW by creating a false labor contract to divert about 20 million KRW and threatening to disadvantage a supported company. The employee was immediately dismissed. An employee of Korea District Heating Corporation was dismissed after submitting false documents to obtain a loan for employee housing and privately using 90 million KRW of the loan. Another employee was suspended for using the company card as if it were their own.

Secret YouTube Activities... Violations of Prohibition on Profit-Making Activities and Concurrent Employment

There were also cases where employees were disciplined after being caught secretly engaging in YouTube activities in violation of the prohibition on profit-making activities and concurrent employment. One Korea Gas Corporation employee received sponsorships via Instagram and YouTube and posted videos and content during working hours. A Korea Gas Safety Corporation employee was caught after leaving work early without permission for 73 days to engage in real estate-related YouTube activities. Regarding sexual misconduct, unlike other agencies such as Korea Gas Corporation that dismissed employees for workplace sexual harassment, Korea National Oil Corporation repeatedly imposed only suspensions, drawing criticism for "lenient disciplinary actions."

Assembly member Sehee Oh emphasized, "The laxity of public service discipline has gone too far," and added, "Strong punishments are necessary to eradicate corruption and create a productive organizational culture."

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