Gwangju City: "Forcing Promotion to Grade 3 in Nam-gu, Clear Violation of Personnel Exchange Agreement"

Declaration of Suspension of Personnel Exchanges... "Basic Principles of Personnel Must Be Strictly Followed"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Gwangju Metropolitan City has expressed its intention to hold Nam-gu accountable for violating the personnel exchange agreement by forcibly promoting a Grade 3 official on its own.

Moon Young-hoon, Deputy Mayor of Gwangju, stated at a press briefing on the 19th, "We will suspend the personnel exchange agreement with Nam-gu and hold them responsible."

This follows Nam-gu's decision the previous day to approve the Grade 3 promotion of Lee Hyun, Director of the Autonomous Administration Bureau.

With Gwangju taking a firm stance, the personnel exchange agreement between the city and autonomous districts established in 2018 is expected to be effectively abolished.

Deputy Mayor Moon said, "The city and autonomous districts have entered into the agreement according to regulations and have faithfully implemented it based on the principle of mutual trust," adding, "The agreement stipulates that when a vacancy occurs in the position of deputy district mayor of an autonomous district, the district may promote internally or request a deputy district mayor candidate from the city, allowing for unilateral transfer to the city for Grade 4 positions."

He continued, "Until now, the city and autonomous districts have conducted personnel appointments for retirees on January 1 each year through consultation, followed by personnel appointments for executives at Grade 4 or higher," and stated, "Since the deputy district mayor of Nam-gu is a retiree, we repeatedly requested agreement to the unilateral transfer of a Grade 4 official, but Nam-gu demanded that discussions on exchanges be held after January 17, when a specific person could be promoted internally."

He also emphasized, "As of January 1, Nam-gu has no candidates who have met the minimum promotion period eligible for promotion to Grade 3, so according to the agreement, they must request a deputy district mayor candidate from the city. This is a clear violation of the personnel exchange agreement."

Furthermore, he said, "If we accept Nam-gu's request, it would cause confusion not only in our city's personnel schedule but also in the appointment dates of deputy district mayors in other autonomous districts," and drew a line by saying, "Since this breaks the trust of other autonomous districts that have faithfully implemented the agreement, it is absolutely unacceptable."

He added, "Personnel matters must be applied fairly to everyone, must not be made for specific individuals, and must not be unfair or unjust, which is the basic principle of personnel management," and concluded, "The city will suspend the agreement and hold Nam-gu accountable accordingly for violating the personnel exchange agreement and Article 8 (Implementation of the Agreement) of the agreement."