Negligence and Dereliction of Duty... Lax Discipline Among Daegu City Officials Flagged

[Financial News, Gumi = Reporter Kim Jang-wook] 'Failure to perform duties, negligence, violations of service regulations, and drunk driving'
Concerns have been raised over lax discipline in public office, as police have been asked to investigate senior Daegu Metropolitan City officials and a fact-finding inquiry is underway into drinking during working hours.
Meanwhile, 84 disciplinary cases involving public officials have been recorded since 2021, lending weight to calls for a comprehensive review of misconduct prevention and post-disciplinary management systems, beyond follow-up measures for individual cases.
According to data submitted by Daegu Metropolitan City to Kim Ju-beom, a member of the Daegu Metropolitan Council representing Dalseo District's 6th constituency, there were 84 disciplinary cases involving public officials from 2021 through this year. Failure to perform duties and negligence accounted for the largest share, with 21 cases, or 25%, followed by 17 cases each involving violations of service regulations and drunk driving, 11 cases of sexual misconduct, 11 cases of conduct unbecoming, and seven cases involving the acceptance of money, goods, or entertainment.
By rank, there were 14 cases involving Grade 5 officials (administrative officers), four involving Grade 4 officials (senior administrative officers), and three involving Grade 3 officials (deputy directors) or higher. Senior officials accounted for roughly one in every four disciplined officials.
Reprimands were the most common disciplinary measure, with 33 cases, followed by 22 suspensions, 17 salary reductions, seven dismissals, and five demotions.
There were also cases of repeated disciplinary action and promotions after disciplinary action.
Thirteen cases involved officials who had received disciplinary action at least twice, and three of those officials had been disciplined three times.
The records also included 10 cases in which a promotion was recorded after disciplinary action.
The review also found multiple instances of the same type of misconduct occurring in the same department, as well as cases involving officials with accumulated disciplinary records.
Kim said, "This is not an issue that can be resolved simply by uncovering misconduct and imposing disciplinary action." He added, "We will examine whether post-disciplinary management and recurrence-prevention systems are functioning properly."
He especially emphasized, "Each public official's responsible attitude ultimately leads to citizens' trust in the administration." He added, "The public service community should use this as an opportunity to reflect on itself and reexamine service, ethical awareness, and organizational culture."
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