Founder Lee Sangjik Acquitted
Court: "Hiring Decisions Are CEO's Authority"
"Difficult to Conclude Coercion Was Exerted"
Sangjik Lee (62), the founder of Eastar Jet and former lawmaker, who had been sentenced to prison in the first trial for instructing staff to hire a large number of unqualified applicants, was acquitted on appeal. The court ruled that, separate from any ethical or moral criticism of the hiring process, it was difficult to conclude that the executives exerted direct or explicit pressure on the HR personnel.
On November 5, the Criminal Division 1 of the Jeonju District Court (Presiding Judge Kim Sanggon) acquitted former lawmaker Lee, who had been indicted on charges of obstruction of business and offering bribes. Former Eastar Jet CEO Kim Yusang (58), who stood trial on the same charges, was also acquitted. However, former CEO Choi Jonggu (61) was fined 10 million won. In addition, a former Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport employee, identified as A (64), who requested the hiring of his child and provided operational favors, was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for one year.
Lee and others were indicted on charges of pressuring HR personnel to pass 147 applicants who did not meet the required scores during the hiring process at Eastar Jet from November 2015 to March 2019. Of these, 76 ultimately passed, and prosecutors determined that there were a total of 184 instances in which Lee and others improperly intervened in the document screening and first and second interview stages.
According to prosecutors, at the time, applicants who had not submitted the required documents or failed to meet language proficiency standards were included in the final list of successful candidates. In some cases, applicants who had not even applied passed the document screening. Prosecutors argued that Lee and others exerted pressure on the HR team at every stage of the hiring process to ensure certain candidates would pass unconditionally.
Among those hired as regular employees through such means was the daughter of A, the head of an airport information office affiliated with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Although A's daughter failed the document screening twice for not meeting the official foreign language test requirement-a mandatory qualification for regular employment at Eastar Jet-she was ultimately hired by the airline after a re-evaluation.
The first trial court stated, "The management's instructions constituted 'coercion' that overpowered the free will of the HR personnel," sentencing Lee to one year and six months in prison. Choi Jonggu, former CEO, was sentenced to one year and two months in prison, suspended for two years, while Kim Yusang, former CEO, received a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for two years. A, who requested the hiring of his child, was sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for two years.
However, the appellate court overturned the first trial's decision. The court noted, "At the time, Eastar Jet had an internal recommendation system, and the final authority over hiring rested with the CEO. Although HR personnel claimed they felt considerable pressure from the defendants' recommendations and instructions, they did not actively refuse or protest these directives."
The court further stated, "There is insufficient evidence to conclude that the defendants' recommendations or instructions actually restricted or interfered with the HR personnel's free decision-making in their work. Apart from the ethical and moral criticisms of this case, the guilty verdicts in the original trial against the defendants cannot be considered justified," explaining the grounds for the acquittal.
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