Chungnam Province to Pilot Nation's First "Alternative Disciplinary Action System" for Public Officials

For Junior Public Officials with Less Than Three Years of Service...
Education and Volunteer Work Instead of Reprimands or Cautions

Chungnam Provincial Government Office

On April 30, the Chungnam Provincial Government announced that it will pilot the nation's first "alternative disciplinary action system for warnings and similar sanctions" to focus on preventing and deterring repeated acts of corruption by public officials.

The core of the alternative disciplinary action system is to provide professional training or volunteer opportunities to junior public officials with less than three years of service who are found to have committed minor misconduct during audits, instead of imposing traditional disciplinary actions such as reprimands or cautions.

The provincial audit committee plans to select public officials for this alternative measure only if it determines that professional competency training or hands-on volunteer work would be more effective, or if such alternatives are deemed likely to lead to significant improvement.

Public officials selected for alternative disciplinary action can be exempted from reprimands or cautions if they complete 20 hours of professional training (or 16 hours if completed online) in the field identified during the audit, or perform 16 hours of volunteer work at social welfare facilities.

The deadline for fulfilling these requirements is three months from the date of notification of the disciplinary action. If the required documentation is not submitted within the deadline, the original disciplinary action decided by the audit committee will be enforced.

The pilot period for the alternative disciplinary action system will run until the end of this year. The government plans to analyze the results and gather feedback from the field to consider expanding the eligible job categories and the scope of application.

The provincial audit committee expects that, once established, this system will greatly contribute to transparent and fair organizational management by providing opportunities for self-reflection and competency development among public officials, as well as by strengthening preventive oversight activities.

Sung Uje, Chairperson of the Provincial Audit Committee, stated, "This alternative disciplinary action system will serve as the nation's first 'prevention-focused audit' model. We will do our utmost to help junior public officials turn their trial and error into opportunities for growth and to provide residents with even more trustworthy administration."

Meanwhile, according to Article 3 of the Chungnam Provincial Government's regulations on warnings and similar disciplinary actions for public officials, the governor is authorized to impose reprimands, warnings, institutional warnings, or cautions for minor misconduct or actions that do not warrant formal disciplinary action.

A reprimand is imposed when an act is deemed illegal or improper but does not rise to the level of formal discipline or censure, while a caution is issued in cases of less serious misconduct or mistakes than those warranting a reprimand, when there is a need to urge awareness.