Reemployment fell through for a Korean National Police Agency inspector who was set to go to Hanwha General Insurance and for a Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries Grade-4 public official who planned to go to Incheon Port Authority (IPA).
The Ministry of Personnel Management's Government Public Official Ethics Committee said on the 3rd that it conducted employment reviews for 93 applications from retirees and decided to restrict employment in two cases.
Under the current Public Service Ethics Act, Grade-4 and higher public officials, executives at public institutions related to public office, and certain employees at such institutions must undergo a prior review if they seek employment at a reviewed institution within three years of retirement. The ethics committee restricts employment if it confirms a close work-related connection between the department or agency where the applicant worked during the five years before retirement and the prospective employer.
Employment is not approved unless it is necessary to strengthen national external competitiveness and for the public interest, and this time the ethics committee rendered a "disapproval of employment" decision in 13 cases. In a key example, a local political appointee from the North Gyeongsang Provincial Council sought to be reemployed as a nonstanding director at Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP) but was denied. A Korean National Police Agency senior superintendent general who tried to be reemployed as head of the Traffic Safety Headquarters at the Korea Road Traffic Authority (KOROAD) and a National Tax Service Grade-6 tax employee who planned to go to Jeongjin Accounting Corporation as head of the Tax Division were also denied.
By contrast, a Presidential Security Service Grade-3 employee received an "employment possible" decision as a standing director at the Korea Authority of Land & Infrastructure Safety (KALIS). A Prosecution Service prosecutor also became eligible for employment at Samsung Electronics. Three Financial Supervisory Service employees likewise received employment-possible decisions at a law firm, an insurance company, and other entities.
Meanwhile, based on data from the National Health Insurance Service and other sources, the ethics committee caught 47 people who took jobs on their own in the second half of last year without undergoing prior review. The committee requested that the competent courts impose fines on them.