Hanwha Aerospace Apologizes for 'Experienced Hire Guidelines' and Announces Preventive Measures

Official Apology from CEO Ibohwan

Disciplinary Action for Those Responsible for Distributing the Guidelines

Hanwha Aerospace has issued an official apology regarding the recent controversy over its ‘lateral hire recruitment guidelines.’

Ibo Hwan, CEO of Hanwha Aerospace Business Division, posted an apology on the company’s website, stating on the 27th, “As a company that must fulfill its social responsibility through fair recruitment, it is absolutely unacceptable that guidelines were created which could restrict applicants’ opportunities based on personal factors such as academic background and age, completely unrelated to job performance.”

He added, “This action blatantly undermined the fundamental principles of ‘open recruitment’ and ‘providing fair opportunities’ that Hanwha Aerospace has always pursued,” and emphasized, “We are taking this situation extremely seriously.”

Ibo Hwan, CEO of Hanwha Aerospace Business Division

He continued, “This matter is a clear mistake in that a flawed guideline was distributed to relevant departments without sufficient internal review and thorough verification,” and stressed, “We will issue stern warnings and take disciplinary action against the department and managers involved in drafting and distributing the guideline.”

Hanwha Aerospace plans to analyze future recruitment processes and completely overhaul them if any issues are found. The company also intends to strengthen training on fair recruitment practices for all employees to ensure a non-discriminatory hiring culture is established.

Hanwha Aerospace explained that last month, after CEO Ibo Hwan became aware that an HR official had drafted recruitment guidelines specifying universities and age groups, he issued a stern warning to those involved earlier this month, and sent an email to all HR staff and division and department heads, making it clear that inappropriate hiring would not be tolerated.

A Hanwha Aerospace official explained, “The controversial lateral hire recruitment guideline was confirmed to be a personal deviation by the HR staff and was never actually implemented.” The company added that the person responsible for drafting the guideline has been referred to the HR committee and is undergoing disciplinary proceedings.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor initiated an inspection on the 16th regarding suspicions that Hanwha Aerospace had created and distributed a guideline restricting age and alma mater for recruitment of experienced employees, sending it to HR executives and hiring managers in each business division.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.