A former mayor of Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Eun Soo-mi, and city officials have been ordered to pay tens of millions of Korean won in compensation for deleting the career history of a former secretary who raised corruption allegations and damaging his reputation, with the Supreme Court finalizing the ruling.
According to the legal community on the 25th, the Supreme Court’s Second Division (Justice Oh Kyung-mi presiding) upheld a lower court’s ruling in favor of the plaintiff in an appeal case filed by former secretary A, who worked in Eun’s office, against Seongnam City, Eun, and former public relations secretary B. The court dismissed the appeal without review, deeming the case did not warrant further deliberation.
As a result, Seongnam City and Eun will jointly pay 25 million Korean won, while Seongnam City and B will jointly pay another 25 million Korean won, totaling 50 million Korean won in compensation.
The lawsuit began when A, who had worked in Eun’s election campaign, reported suspicions of hiring irregularities in Seongnam City to the police in April 2020 and again to the Anti-corruption & Civil Rights Commission in November of the same year. In January 2021, A additionally reported to the commission allegations that the police had sought business favors in exchange for leaking investigation details related to Eun’s violation of the Political Funds Act.
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