District office officials in Gwangju Metropolitan City who received entertainment from agencies and registered license plates with identical numbers or symbolic numbers were caught in an audit.
According to Seo District Office in Gwangju Metropolitan City on the 18th, some members of the vehicle registration team in the Traffic Administration Division was found to have provided specific numbers to agencies through improper means.
This came to light in an audit conducted from February to on the 30th of last month of this year on 16 staff members of the Seo District Office Traffic Administration Division.
Those caught handed over certain preferred vehicle registration plate numbers to agencies over three years, from 2023 to February this year.
The numbers included four identical digits (5555, 7777) and symbolic numbers (1004, 9111), and such plates are called "golden plates."
The officials manipulated the system at will to give the golden plates to those designated by the agencies.
It was found that they registered golden plates to ordinary applicants' vehicles and then canceled them ex officio or corrected the registration to secure the numbers in the system.
They then assigned the secured golden numbers to specific cars by directly entering them. Normally, car owners choose and register one of 10 numbers randomly generated for license plates.
The number of violations confirmed through the audit was found to be about 350. Most cars that received golden plates were high-priced imported vehicles, and corporate cars were also included.
Seo District Office confirmed that the employees involved accepted solicitations from registration agencies, and found that some staff members were treated to meals.
Seo District Office determined that 10 of the 16 people audited took part in the manipulation, and decided to discipline six of them (three for severe disciplinary action and three for light disciplinary action), while imposing administrative measures on the remaining four (one reprimand and three cautions).
They also plan to request an investigation by the Gwangju Seobu Police Station.