"Wife's Dismissal Behind False Accusations"... Chungnam Southern Senior Protection Agency Directly Refutes Claims

Distorting the Agency's Reputation Over His Wife's Dismissal for Poor Performance and Inappropriate Remarks
Defaming Counselors' Professionalism with Baseless Claims

Counselors at the Chungnam Southern Senior Protection Agency (hereinafter referred to as Chungnam Southern Senior Protection Agency) have directly refuted former case review committee member Kim Seyong's claims of "illegal operations," criticizing him by stating, "Do not distort personal grievances into public issues and defame the agency and its counselors."

On September 4, the Chungnam Southern Senior Protection Agency released a statement explaining the background of Kim's remarks: "His wife, former manager A, worked at the agency from August last year until June this year, but was dismissed through two disciplinary committees due to poor work performance, sexually inappropriate remarks, and conflicts with colleagues. This is the fundamental reason behind his claims."

The agency further asserted that after her dismissal, former manager A deleted data from her work computer, which caused significant disruption as even the handover process could not take place.

Previously, on September 3, former committee member Kim held a press conference at the Naon Wedding Convention in Nonsan City, claiming, "The Chungnam Southern Senior Protection Agency is being operated illegally and inhumanely." However, the counselors dismissed these claims as "the spreading of false information."

The agency explained that a total of eight people work at the institution, including Director B, two team leaders, and five professional counselors. All staff members are experts who majored in social welfare or counseling, hold bachelor's or master's degrees, and are certified social workers.

In particular, the agency emphasized that team leaders have at least six years of field experience, making the claim that "they have only two to three years of experience" completely unfounded.

Regarding Kim's criticism that "the counselors cannot even use word processing programs," the agency responded, "Most of our staff hold certificates such as Level 2 Computer Utilization and Level 1 Word Processor qualifications, and have consistently enhanced their expertise through ongoing self-development." The agency called his remarks "utterly baseless slander."

In response to the claim that "counselors are merely the director's subordinates," the agency explained, "All investigation documents are submitted directly to the case review committee, and the director's approval is a standard procedure in any organization. We conduct investigations with objectivity to ensure there are neither unfairly accused whistleblowers nor unfairly accused facilities."

The counselors also pointed out the negative impact of this controversy on the field, stating, "As facilities continue to refuse investigations, it has become even more difficult to protect seniors who are vulnerable to human rights violations. We urge an immediate end to media manipulation driven by personal vendetta and demand an apology for the defamation of the counselors."

They added, "We will no longer stand by idly and will continue to quietly fulfill our responsibilities for elderly victims of abuse."