Public Officials' Union Federation: "Personnel Minister Must Address Control-Centered Administration"

Also calls for a halt to the unilateral implementation of the hourly overtime verification system

The Federation of Public Officials' Trade Unions of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (chairman Shin Donggeun, hereinafter the Federation) issued a statement on October 8, criticizing remarks by Minister of Personnel Management Choi Dongseok during a parliamentary audit as sexist and calling for an apology and a review of relevant policies. It also called for an end to the unilateral implementation of the Ministry of Personnel Management's system for verifying overtime in hourly increments.

On October 7, Minister Choi referred to female candidates' "full makeup" and "pointed-toe shoes" while discussing attire for civil service interviews during a parliamentary audit by the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee. He suggested that the sound of shoes could inconvenience and harm other candidates. After his remarks sparked controversy, Minister Choi apologized.

The Federation said, "Singling out female candidates' makeup and shoes and suggesting that they cause harm to others is not something that can be dismissed as a simple slip of the tongue." It added, "If noise at the test site is a problem, the interview environment should be improved; women's appearance and attire must not be blamed as the cause." It also said, "The head of an agency responsible for personnel policy in the public service should have been all the more careful."

The Federation argued that this kind of "administration centered on control" was also being repeated in the treatment of current civil servants. For the past several months, it has been holding labor-management consultations with the Ministry of Personnel Management to improve the overtime system. The Federation said it agreed with the principles of preventing improper claims and compensating employees for the work they actually perform. However, it criticized the ministry for unilaterally announcing that the hourly overtime verification system would be made mandatory across the board, even as discussions were underway to develop reasonable improvements through consultation.

"If the system is described as 'voluntary' to the union but is effectively imposed across the board at workplaces, and the rules are decided before consultations have concluded, that is not consultation but notification," the Federation said. It also argued that the system amounted to "excessive control that views the majority of civil servants who work conscientiously as potential recipients of improper payments."

The Federation said the two issues stemmed from the same underlying problem. "Although they may appear to be unrelated matters, both are rooted in an administrative culture that sees people as objects to be managed and controlled rather than individuals to be trusted and respected," it said.

The Federation made four demands of the Ministry of Personnel Management: that Minister Choi offer a sincere apology for his sexist remarks; that the ministry comprehensively review relevant policies to ensure that stereotypes about gender and appearance are not reflected in personnel policy; that it halt the unilateral implementation of the hourly overtime verification system and restart discussions from the beginning through labor-management consultations; and that it end administrative surveillance and control that treats conscientious civil servants as potential recipients of improper payments.

"Civil servants are not objects of control," the Federation said, stressing that "genuine personnel reform begins not with controlling people, but with trusting and respecting them."

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