Criminal Record Status Reversed After Trust... Gyeongnam Province Completely Cancels Appointment of External Cooperation Special Advisor

Gyeongnam Provincial Government. / Photo by Se-ryeong Lee ryeong@

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Seryeong] “I was clearly told there were no disqualifications, but after an external inquiry requested a reinvestigation, the results were completely different from the initial ones.”

Gyeongsangnam-do, which firmly trusted the Police Agency’s criminal record system results, reversed the appointment of its Special Advisor for External Cooperation just two days later.

This was because Gyeongsangnam-do learned belatedly that Mr. A, appointed as the Special Advisor for External Cooperation on the 16th, had grounds for disqualification or suspension of public office qualifications.

According to the province, the Special Advisor for External Cooperation is equivalent to a Grade 5 local government appointed position, and before appointing Mr. A, the province requested a criminal record check from the Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency.

On the 11th, the province received a response from the police agency stating “no relevant criminal record,” and on the 16th, appointed Mr. A as the Special Advisor for External Cooperation.

After Mr. A’s appointment, the province heard from an external source that Mr. A had a criminal record and requested another criminal record check from the provincial police on the 17th.

This time, the Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency responded that there was a relevant criminal record, and the province nullified Mr. A’s appointment.

According to the Police Agency, Mr. A was convicted of violating the Public Official Election Act in 2018 and was fined 1 million won in 2019.

Article 266 of the Public Official Election Act stipulates that anyone sentenced to a fine of 1 million won or more for election crimes cannot assume or be appointed to public office for five years after the sentence is finalized, and those already in office must retire from their position.

A Police Agency official explained, “All crimes appear in the police criminal record system, but only imprisonment or heavier sentences are classified as disqualifications for public office appointments. Since fines are not disqualifications, we notified that there was no relevant record.”

He added, “During the reinvestigation, after legal review, we realized that fines of 1 million won or more also constitute grounds for disqualification or suspension of public office qualifications, so we provided results different from the previous ones.”

The police stated that this was not a mistake by the criminal record check personnel but a problem with the system itself and that they have proposed improvements regarding the issue.

Regarding this, Public Relations Special Advisor Kim Yongdae said, “Only the Police Agency can conduct criminal record checks, so we had no choice but to trust their results, and Mr. A did not disclose the relevant facts himself. Since the person who was ineligible applied and was appointed, the appointment was nullified rather than canceled.”

He continued, “Mr. A is currently unreachable. Usually, appointments are not made if the person has received imprisonment or heavier sentences, but whether Mr. A was unaware that even a fine disqualifies one is unknown.”