Former Seodaemun-gu Director Appointed as Chairman of Old Facility Corporation: Violation of Public Officials Ethics Act?

Seodaemun District Council Member Ju Isak Criticizes "Director's Retirement to Corporation Chairman Position Violates Public Officials Ethics Act" in 5-Minute Speech on the 6th

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Former Economic and Fiscal Bureau Chief of Seodaemun-gu, Park Hong-pyo, has drawn attention amid controversy over violations of the Public Officials Ethics Act after being appointed as the chairman of the Seodaemun-gu Facilities Management Corporation.

On the 6th, Assemblyman Joo Isaac, a native of Chunghyeon, Natural, Bukahyeon, and Sinchon-dong from the Seodaemun-gu Council, emphasized during a 5-minute speech at the council, "Are you familiar with the Public Officials Ethics Act? It stipulates the ethics applicable to elected public officials like us, as well as senior public officials retired from national and local governments. In particular, according to Article 17 of the law, retired public officials are restricted from employment for three years after retirement in institutions that have a ‘close connection’ with the departments or agencies they belonged to during the five years prior to retirement."

He added, "In fact, this used to apply only to ‘private companies,’ but since 2014, the scope has expanded to include non-profit corporations such as public corporations. This is likely due to the higher ethical standards demanded by our citizens for retired public officials. Naturally, Park Hong-pyo, the former bureau chief recently hired as the chairman of the corporation, must also have no close connection under the same standards to receive employment approval," he asserted.

He continued, "Is there really no close connection with the departments Park Hong-pyo served in over the past five years? During the last five years, Park served as Head of Regional Revitalization Division (Administrative Officer), was promoted to Bureau Chief, served as Economic and Fiscal Bureau Chief (Senior Administrative Officer), and before his retirement, as Head of the Urban Regeneration Promotion Team (Senior Administrative Officer). Notably, as Economic and Fiscal Bureau Chief, he oversaw the Job Economy Division, Regional Revitalization Division, Finance Division, Cadastral Division, and Tax Divisions 1 and 2."

Assemblyman Joo raised the issue of work relevance, stating, "In 2018, the Job Economy Division was in the midst of remodeling the Startup Incubation Center, which is currently operated under consignment by the Urban Management Corporation. The corporation operates most of Seodaemun-gu’s shared properties and facilities, and the department responsible for overall management of these assets is the Finance Division."

He further stated, "Any bureau chief in a local government oversees a wide range of duties, so avoiding close connections with public corporations affiliated with the autonomous district is not easy. In the past, it was common for a bureau chief to retire and then be appointed as chairman of a public corporation funded or established by that local government, which was a problematic practice. The law was changed to prevent such cases, and the ‘Guidebook for Retired Public Officials (Are You Retiring? This Is a Must!)’ distributed by the Ministry of Personnel Management even cites cases where employment approval was denied for a bureau chief’s appointment as a corporation chairman," he criticized.