Revealed in Ministry of Land Audit... Total 120 People Referred for Investigation
Employees of subsidiaries of Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) were found to have ridden trains without paying fares.
On the 15th, according to data received from KORAIL subsidiaries by the office of Park Sang-hyuk, a member of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport referred a total of 120 people to the police for investigation following an audit.
Earlier this year, the Ministry conducted a full investigation on whether employees of KORAIL subsidiaries who had different work and residential locations, each near a train station, were riding trains without paying fares.
They were then asked to voluntarily report any fare evasion, and those who did so were notified to take necessary measures to recover passenger fares. At KORAIL Tech, 50 people, and at KORAIL Networks, 21 people self-reported fare evasion.
KORAIL Tech is responsible for railway maintenance work for KORAIL, while KORAIL Networks handles ticketing and customer center consultation services.
The Ministry required employees who did not voluntarily report to submit proof of transportation expenses, such as public transportation usage or highway toll payment records. Some who refused to submit documents or submitted proof that did not meet the criteria were referred for investigation.
As a result, the Ministry referred a total of 120 people to the railway police for investigation. Among them, 113 belong to KORAIL Tech and 7 to KORAIL Networks. No cases of fare evasion by employees of other KORAIL subsidiaries have been detected.
The Ministry has identified that some of these individuals used trains such as KTX for commuting at the end of last year without purchasing tickets.
The Ministry plans to take disciplinary actions against the employees under investigation based on the results and to implement necessary measures such as education to prevent recurrence of train fare evasion in the future.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
