Court Sentences Former Police Chief to 300,000 Won Fine
Appeals Verdict Disagreeing with Judgment
A former police chief who contacted a job interviewee to make a personal request was fined in the first trial.
On the 25th, Yonhap News reported, "Seodongwon, a judge of Criminal Division 6 at the Seoul Eastern District Court, sentenced Kim (65), who was indicted for violating the Personal Information Protection Act, to a fine of 300,000 won."
According to the report, Kim, a former police chief (Senior Superintendent), worked as an interviewer for the recruitment of public service workers at the Anyang Fire Station in Gyeonggi Province on February 1 last year. He was prosecuted for using the personal information of interviewee A for purposes other than intended.
It was investigated that Kim called A on February 9, eight days after the interview, saying, "Do you remember me? I was an interviewer and a former police senior superintendent, and your interview was impressive," and "I need to produce a YouTube video, so please meet me and tell me about it." Kim reportedly contacted A privately to seek help after reviewing A’s content production skills confirmed during the recruitment process.
Judge Seo explained the sentencing reasons, considering that Kim admitted to the crime, is a first-time offender with no prior criminal record, and that A agreed with Kim and did not want punishment. Kim appealed the first trial verdict.
Meanwhile, a similar case was reported on the JTBC current affairs program Incident Commander on December 19 last year. B, who applied to an agricultural technology-related company and was finally accepted, did not join the company due to circumstances but later received a text message from an unknown number asking, "Have you decided well where to work?"
B asked, "The message history was deleted, so it’s hard to check previous content. May I ask who this is?" The sender replied, "I’m the oppa you met at the club before." Sensing something strange, B called the sender and found out that the person who sent the message was one of the interviewers from the company B had applied to.
B judged that the interviewer’s use of contact information obtained through work for personal purposes was inappropriate and informed the company of the fact. The company apologized to B. As the issue escalated, the interviewer reportedly contacted B saying, "I was just asking if you got a good job, but it turned out like this. I had no ill intentions, it was just meddling, so I hope you can forgive me."
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