Former Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Finance and Economy Yoon In-dae took a position as a research fellow at the Future Policy Research Institute at Sungkyunkwan University. Once again, not a single public official applied for employment screening to join Coupang, which had stirred controversy for recruiting a large number of retired politicians and government officials.
The Government Public Officials Ethics Committee on the 6th released the results of reviews for 82 cases in which retired public officials requested employment screening. Under current law, grade-4 and higher civil servants and executives at public institutions must undergo prior employment screening if they seek reemployment at a screened institution within three years of retirement.
If it is determined there is no close job relevance between the work of the department or agency to which the person belonged during the five years before retirement and the prospective employer, a decision of "eligible for employment" or "employment approved" is issued. Employment approval applies when job relevance is acknowledged but the case is considered to fall under an exception stipulated by law.
According to the screening results, the former Deputy Minister retired in Nov. last year and in Feb. this year took a job as a research fellow at the Future Policy Research Institute at Sungkyunkwan University. The committee determined there was no close job relevance and ruled "eligible for employment."
By contrast, two public officials from the National Tax Service were denied employment. A grade-4 official at the National Tax Service planned to become an auditor at manufacturer Kumho HT, and a grade-6 tax official planned to join tax firm Ijeong as an employee, but both were not approved.
There were three cases with employment restrictions. The committee imposed restrictions on a superintendent at the Korean National Police Agency seeking to become president of an architecture office, an executive at the Korea Agency of Education, Promotion and Information Service in Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery (EPIS) seeking to become vice chairman of the Korea Seed Association, and a grade-1 official at the Korea Radioactive Waste Agency seeking to become a director at an engineering company.
In this screening, not a single public official applied for employment screening to join Coupang. Coupang previously drew controversy for a "government-facing" management approach that involved hiring many retired political and government figures. In particular, it became controversial when it emerged in June last year that a large number of grade-5 and grade-6 officials at the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) had moved to Coupang. In response, Minister Kim Young-hoon of the Ministry of Employment and Labor said, "If you contact them, consider your career ruined."
Meanwhile, the committee asked the competent court to impose fines in three cases where individuals subject to employment screening took jobs without prior review. In such cases, depending on the court's judgment, fines of up to 10 million won may be imposed.
The committee also imposed fines on 69 people who took jobs without approval in the first half of last year. If a retrospective decision of "employment not approved" or "employment restricted" is issued by the ethics committee, employment termination measures are taken.