[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Gwan-woo] The current president of Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST, GIST) has been accused of illicitly obtaining research allowances worth hundreds of millions of won by holding concurrent positions for several years.
The GIST Labor Union (GIST Union) issued a press release on the 16th stating, “President Kim Gi-seon held concurrent positions as head of two centers within the institute for two years after assuming the presidency in April 2019, receiving various research allowances and performance bonuses,” and criticized, “He has neglected his primary duties, which should be devoted to recruiting outstanding students, inviting talented professors, handling the institute’s numerous tasks, and expanding external development funds, showing only interest in increasing his personal wealth.”
According to the GIST Union’s mid-term employee evaluation, President Kim has received over 200 million won in research allowances for contributing to research projects at two centers since 2019, and in addition, he received research and development efficiency performance bonuses worth tens of millions of won.
The GIST Union emphasized that this exploits a loophole due to the lack of clear regulations prohibiting the president from holding concurrent positions.
They said, “There is no precedent for a president concurrently holding a center head position in other domestic universities,” and added, “In science and technology universities or government-funded institutions similar to GIST, there are no cases where professors or researchers serving as heads of institutions concurrently hold positions as center heads responsible for research projects.”
They continued, “President Kim separately received 33 million won last year as a research and development efficiency performance bonus paid annually at the beginning of the year based on his contribution to the institute’s research projects, and a similar amount is expected this year,” and “Furthermore, his annual salary has been increased by more than 10% every year by the previous administration to encourage him to focus on institute operations.”
President Kim’s current annual salary is estimated at approximately 255 million won, having been increased by 18.6% in 2019 and 10.3% last year.
The GIST Union stated, “Ultimately, since his inauguration, President Kim has received over 400 million won in salary over two years, 239 million won in research allowances, 33 million won in research and development efficiency performance bonuses, and more than 700 million won including official expenses,” and added, “We will report to the relevant government agencies whether it is appropriate for the president to receive separate research allowances and performance bonuses while concurrently serving as a research center head in addition to his salary.”
They also said, “With university management facing strong criticism after effectively failing the mid-term employee evaluation, we want to ask whether President Kim has the qualifications to serve as president and whether he is truly fulfilling his role as the head of the institution,” and “President Kim should immediately resign from his concurrent positions for the development of GIST.”
The school’s position is that President Kim’s concurrent positions are not illegal, so receiving research allowances is not a problem.
A GIST official explained, “President Kim received approval from higher authorities to conduct research projects, so the research allowances and performance bonuses he received are appropriate compensation.”
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