Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC) President Lee Hak-jae has been sued by employees on allegations of abusing personnel authority and will face a police investigation.
The Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency said on the 4th that it has assigned the complaint filed against President Lee and four other executives and employees of IIAC to the anti-corruption and economic crimes unit and is investigating. The police noted that, given the inclusion of alleged violations of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act in the complaint, the case was transferred to a dedicated department.
The complaint was filed on the 20th of last month by two senior full-time professors affiliated with the Aviation Academy at IIAC. They are said to have submitted a complaint to the Incheon Jungbu Police Station, alleging that President Lee and others abused personnel authority to strip them of their department head posts, and seeking charges of abuse of authority, obstruction of business, and violation of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act.
The complainants argue that, as the corporation pursued the introduction of a job-based pay system in line with government guidelines in 2023, personnel decisions involving nonunion members like themselves were used as leverage in talks with the union. A job-based pay system sets compensation based on factors such as the difficulty and level of responsibility of the work, rather than years of service.
Police recently called in the complainants for initial questioning to verify the facts. A police official said, "We are reviewing related materials and looking into the overall contents of the complaint."
President Lee also drew attention earlier for a public back-and-forth with President Lee Jae-myung. On Dec. 12 last year, at a Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport briefing, he was asked about responses to the export of foreign currency from Incheon Airport. When a clear answer did not come, President Lee publicly rebuked him, saying, "You don't know a single thing," and "You're talking too long."
Afterward, President Lee pushed back on the president's remarks via social media. On the 20th of last month, he publicly raised suspicions of Blue House interference in personnel matters and said, "Don't pressure working-level staff—dismiss me, the president."