Private Academy Instructor as Firefighter Interviewer... Firecheong "Requests Investigation"

The Fire Agency has decided to request an investigation regarding the participation of a person who had worked as an interview instructor at a Noryangjin academy in the recruitment interview for this year's firefighter recruitment exam.

On the 23rd of last month, examinees were making final checks in front of the interview booths at the '2023 Firefighter Recruitment Interview' held at EXCO East Hall in Buk-gu, Daegu.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the Fire Agency on the 5th, among the 273 interviewers at the nationwide integrated firefighter interview held in Daegu from the 23rd to the 25th of last month, one person, Mr. A, was confirmed to have worked as an academy instructor. Mr. A, an expert in fire disaster prevention and mitigation and an assistant professor at a university, conducted two special lectures related to interviews at the academy until last month.

The Fire Agency stated in an explanatory document, "To ensure the fairness of the exam, the composition of interview teams and the selection of interviewers were done by random drawing on the day of the exam, and the exam questions were not arbitrarily selected by the interviewers on the spot but were pre-determined." However, it also admitted, "It was an operational oversight that the history of academy lectures was not checked when appointing interview committee members." Additionally, it added, "We will establish a systematic history management system to supplement this."

The Fire Agency plans to verify the circumstances under which Mr. A conducted academy lectures and whether the 28 candidates interviewed by this member attended special lectures at the academy, and will request an investigation. They will also conduct a comprehensive investigation into how the interview scores were assigned.

The Fire Agency stated, "This measure will be carried out after the final selection of successful candidates to prevent harm to well-intentioned examinees, considering the obligation to maintain security in exam operations."