A policy recommendation has been issued to relax the age limit for experienced firefighter recruitment and to allow interregional transfers for newly appointed firefighters.
Kim Ki-sun, Director of the Policy Bureau for Integrity Improvement at the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, is speaking at the Government Complex Sejong. Photo by Yonhap News
On the 29th, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission announced that it had prepared a "Firefighter Personnel System Improvement Plan" and recommended the Fire Agency to implement these institutional changes.
The improvement plan includes a proposal to ease the age limit for applicants with specialized experience in fields such as driving, medicine, and nursing to 45 years or younger. Currently, the age limit for experienced firefighter recruitment is 40 years or younger, but many mid-career professionals with over 10 years of experience in specialized fields such as driving, medicine, and nursing are unable to take the recruitment exam. The plan reflects the 2012 Constitutional Court decision that restricting the age for civil service exams is unconstitutional, and seeks to prioritize crisis management skills over age in the recruitment process.
The recommendation also includes allowing transfers to other regions in unavoidable circumstances such as childbirth, childcare, or family caregiving. Under current regulations, newly appointed firefighters are prohibited from transferring between cities and provinces for five years, leading to cases where individuals are separated from their families or choose to resign early.
Kim Kiseon, Director of the Policy Bureau for Rights Improvement at the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, stated, "With this recommendation, we can create stable working conditions for firefighters through recruitment and employment practices that reflect the changing times, and we expect this will lead to an increased influx of private-sector professionals and specialists."
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