"Comeback as a New Hire": Incheon Airport Employee Caught Sneaking Out Cigarettes Sparks Controversy After Resigning and Rejoining the Company

Caught trying to remove lost property without authorization, but resigned before the audit
Rejoined as a new employee 1 year and 2 months later
Pay reduction imposed belatedly... Management procedures need improvement

An employee of an Incheon Airport subsidiary who was caught trying to remove cigarettes found in a restroom in the departure area of Incheon International Airport without authorization reportedly resigned before disciplinary proceedings began and later rejoined the company. Although disciplinary proceedings were eventually initiated, critics say the case exposed gaps in personnel management and that improvements to relevant regulations were delayed.

Yonhap News reported this on October 24, citing documents submitted by Incheon International Airport Corporation to Hwang Hee, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker on the National Assembly’s Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee.

According to the report, Employee A of Incheon Airport Operations Service, a subsidiary of the corporation, was caught during a security screening on March 28, 2024, while leaving work with three cartons of cigarettes found in a restroom in the duty-free area on the third floor of Terminal 1 at Incheon International Airport.

Incheon International Airport. Yonhap News.

The case was formally referred to the audit department on April 9 of that year, but Employee A voluntarily resigned before an audit plan was drawn up. At the time, company rules restricted the acceptance of resignations only for employees under investigation or inquiry for misconduct. Because Employee A resigned before a formal investigation began, the employee did not go through disciplinary proceedings, and no disciplinary record was kept.

About one year and two months after resigning, Employee A rejoined the same company as a new employee in June 2025. The employee did not list previous work experience on the job application, and the company’s human resources team reportedly failed to verify that Employee A had worked there before.

The company discovered Employee A’s past attempt to remove lost property only after the employee rejoined. As the statute of limitations for disciplinary action had not expired, the company obtained legal advice that a penalty could still be imposed, conducted a special audit and, in December 2025, issued Employee A a six-month pay reduction.

Hwang said, “If employees who resign before an audit leave no disciplinary record, and the company cannot even verify their past employment when they rejoin, that points to fundamental gaps in the personnel and audit systems.”

The company said it had implemented some improvements, including adding a verification step by the audit department to the resignation process. It also said it would consider restricting the acceptance of resignations from the time misconduct is identified.

Other misconduct involving lost property has also been identified at Incheon Airport Operations Service. Previous cases included an employee who was caught siphoning off foreign currency worth 6 million won found at the airport and was dismissed, and another who received a pay reduction for trying to remove red ginseng without authorization.

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