Jung Da-eun, Gwangju City Council Member: "Local Public Institutions, Serious Laxity in Official Discipline"

Exploitation of Non-Notification of Misconduct and Criminal Facts Creates 'Disciplinary Blind Spots'
Voluntary Cause Analysis and Recurrence Prevention Measures Needed

Jeong Da-eun, Gwangju City Council Member

It has become urgent to establish measures to eradicate misconduct among executives and employees of local public institutions funded or supported by Gwangju City.

On the 5th, Jeong Da-eun, a member of the Gwangju City Council (Democratic Party of Korea, Buk-gu 2), pointed out during the administrative audit of the Social Service Center and the Women and Family Foundation, “Misconduct or criminal acts unrelated to official duties are not reported to the respective institutions, which is exploited so that even if caught for drunk driving, they continue working as if nothing happened,” adding, “The laxity in public service discipline is severe.”

Recently, it was confirmed that an employee of the Women and Family Foundation received a severe disciplinary action last month for being caught drunk driving. On the other hand, despite reports related to drunk driving at the Social Service Center, no comprehensive investigation regarding sexual crimes or drunk driving was conducted based on consultations with the Gwangju City Human Rights Ombudsman and legal advisors.

Currently, disciplinary actions for executives and employees of Gwangju City-funded or supported institutions are operated under each institution’s own regulations according to the standards and guidelines of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. In the case of public officials, investigation and inquiry results are reported to their affiliated institutions regardless of the nature of the incident. However, for local government-funded or supported institutions, reporting is limited to work-related incidents, and misconduct such as sexual misconduct or drunk driving is not reported.

Councilor Jeong said, “Not only the Social Service Center and the Gwangju Women and Family Foundation, but all other Gwangju City-funded or supported institutions are in the same situation,” and added, “Since investigation and inquiry results are not reported to the affiliated institutions, there is effectively a blind spot in disciplinary actions, leading to laxity in public service discipline.”

Jeong also stated, “To correct the loosened public service discipline, it is necessary to voluntarily analyze the causes of repeated misconduct every year and prepare measures to prevent recurrence,” and urged, “Since their status is equivalent to that of public officials, efforts should be made to eradicate misconduct among executives and employees of public institutions.”