Shipbuilding company employees who privately used their authority to enforce safety regulations and received tens of millions of won over several years have been brought to trial.
On June 12, the Criminal Division 5 of the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Park Jihoon) announced that it had indicted two shipbuilding company employees on charges of breach of trust and bribery, and indicted without detention an operator of a secondary subcontractor on charges of offering bribes.
According to prosecutors, an employee of the shipbuilding company's safety department is accused of receiving 78 million won from the operator of a secondary subcontractor between around August 2023 and March 2025, in exchange for overlooking violations of safety regulations.
An employee of the shipbuilding company's production department is accused of receiving 27.14 million won from the operator of a secondary subcontractor between around August 2023 and February 2025, in exchange for requests to overlook safety regulation violations and to provide convenience during process inspections.
To circumvent internal regulations prohibiting employees from obtaining private benefits from subcontractors, they falsely registered their family members as employees of the subcontractor to receive salaries, and had the subcontractor pay for alcoholic beverages and their children's rent, thereby obtaining undue benefits.
Through these actions, the subcontractor gained a favorable position in securing subcontracted work compared to other subcontractors.
A prosecutor stated, "The authority to ensure worker safety has been abused as a means of pursuing private gain," and added, "This case has created an opportunity for transparent enforcement and compliance with safety regulations at industrial sites, thereby contributing to fair practices and enhancing corporate competitiveness."
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