Gyeonggi Art Center Faces Serious Employee Discipline Issues... 20 Cases of Improper Work Detected

Gyeonggi Provincial Government

It has been revealed that the public service discipline among employees at the Gyeonggi Arts Center is seriously lax.

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 12th that it conducted a comprehensive audit of the Gyeonggi Arts Center from February 14 to March 15 and uncovered 20 cases of improper business handling.

Following the audit results, Gyeonggi Province took 20 administrative actions against the Gyeonggi Arts Center, including 3 warnings, 3 corrections, 3 improvements, 10 notifications, and 1 institutional warning. Additionally, 34 personnel actions were taken, including disciplinary measures against 13 individuals and admonitions for 21 employees.

Among the major improper business practices, it was found that Mr. A received a contract payment of 1.5 million KRW from the Gyeonggi Arts Center according to payment regulations, but also received an additional 2 million KRW from the contracting company under the separate title of a gratuity, violating the "Act on the Prohibition of Improper Solicitation and Graft" (Article 8). The Provincial Audit Office decided to impose severe disciplinary action on Mr. A and notified that the contracting company which provided the money would be reported to investigative authorities.

Employee Mr. B was found to have not performed his duties diligently, engaging in personal hobbies during working hours, and was confirmed to have used part of the warehouse space and items within the Gyeonggi Arts Center for personal hobby activities over an extended period. Furthermore, it was notified to coordinate with the responsible department to calculate compensation fees according to the Act on the Management of Public Property and Goods and to prepare collection measures.

In addition, Gyeonggi Province uncovered violations such as failure to report conflicts of interest leading to breaches of the Conflict of Interest Prevention Act, and violations of the Code of Conduct related to improper exemptions from parking fees. The relevant individuals were requested to be disciplined, and the exempted parking fees were demanded to be recovered.

Moreover, regarding the negligent document management, including the production of numerous handwritten documents for work convenience without complying with the prescribed document transfer and disposal procedures, an institutional warning was issued. The center was also instructed to establish a document management plan and conduct continuous supervision and employee training.

Meanwhile, from the beginning of the audit, Gyeonggi Province received reports about the Gyeonggi Arts Center through various channels such as posting public audit notices, requesting cooperation in submitting audit considerations, and whistleblowing. Among these, illegal or improper matters will be subject to disciplinary action, and even if no illegal matters are found, the results will be communicated to the informants.