A Korean court has ordered South Korea’s Kangwon Land to pay compensation of between KRW3 million (US$2,500) and KRW8 million (US$6,750) to each of 21 applicants who were victims of a labor corruption scandal in 2012 and 2013.
The scandal saw Kangwon Land, the only Korean casino at which locals are allowed to gamble, illegally hire hundreds of staff via political and internal connections between November 2012 and April 2013, ultimately resulting in the company’s then CEO, Choi Hung-jib, being jailed for three years.
According to YTN Korea, this latest ruling relates to 21 applicants identified as having missed out on an opportunity for employment at Kangwon Land as a result of the scandal.
The ruling comes two months after Choi Hung-jib, who was originally convicted in January 2019 before launching an appeal, was found guilty by the 2nd Criminal Division of the Chuncheon District Court of instructing officials to adjust job assessments to ensure candidates linked to high-profile politicians would be hired for positions at Kangwon Land.
Two leading members of South Korea’s opposition Liberty Korea Party, Kweon Seong-dong and Yeom Dong-yeol, were previously indicted in July 2018 for having influenced the hiring of 50 trainees between them by manipulating interview scores so the chosen candidate would pass.
Kangwon Land issued a statement in September 2019 in which it admitted that in 2012 and 2013 it had hired 518 people of which 493 of them – around 95% – were appointed due to connections with various “influential people.”
The corruption was first uncovered in 2015, with YTN Korea stating that as many as 800 of 4,000 job applicants at the time had been impacted by Kangwon Land’s actions.
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