Korea Gas Safety Corporation President Park Kyungguk: "Reflecting on Hiring Misconduct... Reform Through Action, Not Words"

The Korea Gas Safety Corporation is making fairness and integrity its top priorities in organizational management and embarking on internal reform. Acknowledging that it has failed to live up to the public's trust and expectations following misconduct by some employees, including violations of their duty to prevent conflicts of interest, the corporation is committed to making ethics and integrity part of its organizational culture, starting with its head and extending to all employees.

Park Kyung-kook, president of the Korea Gas Safety Corporation, hands employees beverages featuring messages on integrity and ethics at the “Integrity and Ethics Coffee Sharing Event” on Sept. 9. Korea Gas Safety Corporation.

On November 5, the Korea Gas Safety Corporation issued an ethics and integrity declaration under the name of its president, Park Kyungguk, stating, "We will make integrity the top priority in all our work and rebuild the public's trust." The declaration emphasized that, as a public institution responsible for people's lives and safety, the corporation must uphold higher standards of fairness and integrity than other institutions. It also said the corporation would use this matter as an opportunity to fundamentally reform its ethics across the organization and the way it carries out its work.

In the declaration, the corporation outlined four areas for action: establishing fairness and integrity as the top principles in all work; practicing integrity-based responsible management, with senior officials leading by example; responding firmly to misconduct and strengthening preventive internal controls; and fostering a trusted organizational culture through open communication on ethics and protection for whistleblowers.

The corporation said it would first ensure that all work, including recruitment, personnel management and contracts, is conducted fairly and transparently, and prevent private interests from influencing public decision-making. It also emphasized integrity-based responsible management, under which the head of the institution, executives and senior managers would uphold high ethical standards and take responsibility for establishing a culture of integrity and preventing misconduct in their departments.

The corporation will respond firmly to misconduct in accordance with the law and established principles, and strengthen preventive internal controls rather than relying solely on punishment after the fact. It will identify and address potential risks in work processes in advance to prevent similar problems from recurring.

The corporation will also promote ethical communication within the organization. It plans to ensure that all employees can freely raise concerns about improper practices or ethical issues, and strengthen protections for whistleblowers so they do not face disadvantages for making legitimate reports or raising concerns. The goal is to build an organizational culture that can identify and address problems early, alongside internal controls to prevent misconduct.

President Park Kyungguk said, "We know well that the public's trust cannot be restored overnight," adding, "We will bring about change through action, not words, and practice, not declarations."

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