Seocheon County Granted Illegal Farmland Use Without Restoration Order... Detected in Chungnam Audit

Approval for Change of Forest Land Use Granted Without On-Site Inspection

It was revealed during a comprehensive audit that Seocheon County in South Chungcheong Province inappropriately handled administrative tasks, such as granting permits for illegally converted farmland.

According to the South Chungcheong Provincial Audit Committee on the 4th, an audit was conducted on Seocheon County from July 8 to 19, uncovering 67 cases of inappropriate administrative actions, which were subject to corrective measures. Measures such as recovery were also taken for 643 million won.

The county was found to have granted farmland conversion permits for illegally converted farmland without issuing an order to restore the land to its original state. Later, when the farmland conversion permit was canceled and a restoration order was issued, the county proceeded with the disposition without carrying out prior notification and hearings. Additionally, it was discovered that the county approved changes to mountain area use without an on-site inspection, even though the construction had already been completed before the permit was granted, and did not impose fines accordingly.

Inappropriate personnel management was also pointed out.

Although the maximum recognized training hours per education type are set at 30 to 160 hours per year in the county, the official in charge of overall training manually entered excess recognized hours for seven promotion candidates, which were then reflected in the promotion review. In June last year, when a vacancy occurred in a level 4 position, only administrative (level 5) candidates were selected for pre-review by the personnel committee, excluding technical (level 5) candidates.

When there is only one candidate eligible for promotion by length of service, promotion can be made within the top 7 ranking range, but Mr. A, who was ranked 17th on the administrative level 9 promotion candidate list, was promoted.

In addition, the county neglected its management by failing to take disciplinary action against three individuals who were notified of criminal cases by investigative agencies, and by paying health maintenance allowances to four deceased individuals.