[Exclusive] "Pay Attention to Tall and Thin Candidates"... Hiring Requests During Blind Interviews at Ministry of Land Affiliated Agencies

Results of Special Audit by Korea Transportation Safety Authority Secured by Rep. Kim Du-gwan of the Democratic Party
Following 354 Cases of Election Commission Hiring Corruption, Public Service Discipline Lax

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission recently uncovered hundreds of cases of recruitment corruption at the National Election Commission over the past seven years. Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that improper solicitations occurred during the regular full-time new employee recruitment process at the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, an agency under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, last year.

According to the "Special Audit on Violations of the Code of Conduct, etc." submitted by the Korea Transportation Safety Authority to the office of Kim Du-kwan, a member of the National Assembly’s Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the Democratic Party, the Authority’s audit office conducted an audit from October 4 to November 25 last year. As a result, Center Director A (Grade 1) contacted interviewers during the interview process for regular full-time new employee recruitment last year, providing the names and physical characteristics of three candidates and requested them to "pay special attention."

Center Director A pressured interviewer B by making personnel solicitations such as "Hire someone you know who is good," "Take care of them a bit," and "Please pay attention," while also mentioning another internal interviewer participating in the same interview as B. In response, B gave a high interview score to one of the three candidates mentioned by Center Director A during the blind interview. The other two candidates did not receive scores because, as it was a blind interview, they could not be specifically identified. B testified to a colleague in the same department that "I gave the scores at A’s request."

The three candidates specified by Center Director A took the first interview along with a total of nine candidates, and two of them received the first and second highest scores respectively. It was found that only one of these three candidates was ultimately accepted.

According to the Authority’s "Code of Conduct for Employees," employees must not give unfair instructions that violate laws or regulations to subordinates, hindering fair job performance for their own or others’ benefit. Employees who receive unfair instructions from superiors are required to explain the reasons and may refuse to follow the instructions or consult with the Code of Conduct officer.

Additionally, employees must not engage in unfair acts such as giving improper instructions or demands unrelated to their duties or beyond their job scope, nor solicit or mediate for improper benefits.

Center Director A was disciplined with a three-month suspension for undermining the fair opportunity of candidates regardless of interview results and interfering in public official recruitment in a way that could influence the process.

The Authority’s audit office judged that interviewer B "did not refuse instructions that hindered fair job performance and engaged in acts that influenced public official recruitment." However, considering that B voluntarily disclosed a recording containing inappropriate behavior, was in a lower position than Center Director A and thus had no choice but to comply with the request, and that B’s actions had virtually no impact on the recruitment results, B received a warning.

Assemblyman Kim Du-kwan stated, "The Korea Transportation Safety Authority holds an important responsibility for creating a safe transportation environment in the Republic of Korea, but the serious level of employee discipline deterioration is very disappointing," and pointed out, "It seems necessary to correct organizational discipline through intensive inspections."