Jeonju mayor spouse transfer dispute draws union claims

KBS reported that Jeonju Mayor Cho Ji-hoon's spouse, a Grade 6 civil servant at Jeonju City, recently tried to move to Imsil County after concerns were raised that working in the same city government as the mayor was inappropriate.

Civil servant unions in 8 Jeonbuk cities and counties, including Imsil, claimed there was preferential treatment in the process. The unions said Jeonju City was handling work that an individual civil servant should have looked into personally.

Lee Ji-hoon, chair of the Imsil County Office government employees' union, said, 'Civil servants find a 1-to-1 exchange and transfer in and out, but in this situation it was not the person herself who came forward; Jeonju City's secretariat and personnel department stepped in, so we see that as preferential treatment.'

The unions said the mayor's spouse has many years of service and could affect promotion opportunities for Imsil County officials. They said she ultimately refused to prepare an official document pledging not to seek promotion, and called for the transfer attempt to stop.

Oh Jung-hoo, acting chair of the Jeonbuk City and County Government Employees' Union Federation(전북시군공무원노조연맹), said, 'Allowing an exception for a person in power and forcing only civil servants in the field to sacrifice is not the fairness and common sense we have shouted for.'

After the dispute, the spouse's planned transfer to Imsil County fell through. Cho said he had 'neither the intention nor reason to break fairness and common sense' and said he regretted that others did not understand the position of 'sharing a sense of public responsibility.' Jeonju City then said it would dispatch the mayor's spouse to an affiliated institution and again review a transfer to another city or county, bringing another dispute.

Neither the intention nor reason to break fairness and common sense.