Public Officials' Federation Condemns Referral of Sancheong Wildfire Working-Level Officials... "Shifting State Responsibility onto Individuals"

Press Conference in Front of Changwon District Prosecutors' Office
Calls for Reinvesigation and Enactment of Special Protection Act

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions Public Officials' Federation (Chairman Shin Donggeun, hereinafter the Public Officials' Federation) has condemned the police decision to refer without detention the public officials in charge of extinguishing the Sancheong wildfire, and has called on the prosecution to reopen the investigation.

Public Officials' Union of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (front row, from left) Shin Donggeun, Federation Chairman; Yoo Cheolhwan, Chairman of the Andong City Public Officials' Union; Son Minbae, Chairman of the Changwon Special City Public Officials' Union. Provided by the Public Officials' Union.

On the afternoon of the 23rd at 2:00 p.m., the Public Officials' Federation held a press conference in front of the Changwon District Prosecutors' Office. Representatives of public officials' unions from across the country, including Chairman Shin Donggeun and Han Jinhee, Chairman of the Gyeongnam Provincial Government Public Officials' Labor Union, attended the event, expressing strong anger at the police investigation results and demanding a fair reinvestigation.

Earlier, on the 11th, the Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency referred three working-level public officials belonging to Gyeongnam Province to the prosecution without detention on charges of occupational negligence resulting in death and injury in connection with the Sancheong wildfire accident that occurred in March last year. In the accident at that time, nine firefighting crew members were killed or injured (four dead and five injured).

The Public Officials' Federation argued that it is unjust to shift responsibility for an unavoidable accident that occurred under the special circumstances of disaster response from the system to specific individuals. Chairman Shin Donggeun criticized, "Imposing the yoke of criminality on public officials who fought desperately in a national disaster situation amounts to shifting the responsibility of the national system onto individuals." He went on to warn, "Setting a precedent of holding working-level officials criminally liable will lead to passive administration and avoidance of disaster-related work in the public sector, and will ultimately threaten public safety."

Han Jinhee, Chairman of the Gyeongnam Provincial Government Labor Union, countered that the police investigation results are at odds with the reality on the ground. Han stated, "The decision to deploy personnel to the site was not based on the judgment of individual public officials, but was an official procedure that went through a situational assessment meeting of the integrated command center in which the Korea Forest Service, the National Fire Agency, and others participated." Han further explained, "Situational information sharing and safety training were carried out on a constant basis through emergency contact networks and other means, and the professional firefighting crew members who were deployed were fully briefed on firefighting strategies and safety rules by the accompanying public officials."

Through its press statement, the Public Officials' Federation called on the government and the National Assembly to ensure a strict and objective reinvestigation by the prosecution, to enact a special act to protect public officials engaged in disaster response, and to establish a fair, process-oriented principle of accountability. The Federation stressed that this case goes beyond the punishment of individuals and represents a crisis for the entire public service system of the Republic of Korea, and declared that it will continue its solidarity efforts until an environment is created in which public officials can work with peace of mind.