Exclusive Rep. Kim Jun-hyuk of Suwon Jung District Conducts Training for Suwon City Officials

Rep. Kim Jun-hyuk of the Democratic Party, representing Suwon Jung District, is serving as an instructor for civility training for civil servants in Suwon City, his own constituency, sparking debate over the appropriateness of inviting incumbent politicians as instructors for official civil servant training.

According to the Suwon Municipal Assembly and Suwon City on the 10th, the assembly plans to invite Rep. Kim on the 12th at 10 a.m. in the multipurpose lounge on the first floor of the assembly to conduct civility training on the theme of "King Jeongjo's People-Centered Ideology."

The training will be conducted for civil servants in Suwon City and other public officials, with an expected attendance of approximately 100 people.

The assembly posted an announcement titled "Suwon Metropolitan Government Assembly Civility Training Notice" on the Suwon City administrative portal on the 9th, notifying civil servants of their participation.

Notably, the training takes place during weekday working hours and is operated as a continuous learning course recognized as official educational credit for civil servants.

Participating civil servants can have their lecture time recognized as continuous learning hours. For this, the assembly is confirmed to have received cooperation from relevant personnel and training departments at Suwon City.

Continuous learning hours for civil servants can also be reflected in educational training hours required for promotion, making it different in nature from simply attending a lecture.

Initially, the assembly considered participation by general citizens as well as civil servants, but the actual training notice specified only civil servants as eligible participants.

Rep. Kim is a historian who has researched King Jeongjo and Suwon Hwaseong fortress since before his election to the National Assembly, having served as a museum research specialist at Suwon City and head of the curatorial team at the Suwon Hwaseong Museum. He has authored multiple works on Jeongjo-related topics and possesses top-tier expertise in the field.

However, separate from academic expertise, the civil service community is questioning whether an incumbent National Assembly member with a constituency in Suwon should conduct official training for Suwon City civil servants.

A civil servant from the city identified as A stated, "An incumbent National Assembly member lecturing to civil servants is the first time I've heard of such a thing during my civil service career. While everyone acknowledges that Rep. Kim is a Jeongjo expert, I understand there's more than one expert on Jeongjo."

Another civil servant identified as B said, "Although it's not shown in the notice, giving credit for training time means Suwon City created incentives for receiving education from a specific politician. While civil servants may have individual political leanings, there has been no precedent for a government agency so blatantly promoting lectures from a regional representative politician like this."

Under current law, it does not appear that incumbent National Assembly members are prohibited from lecturing to civil servants per se.

Article 20 of the "Local Civil Servant Education and Training Act" requires local government heads and provincial assembly speakers to conduct on-the-job training to enhance the job performance capabilities of their civil servants. Additionally, the lecturer fee payment standards of the Ministry of Interior and Safety's Local Government Human Resources Development Institute include incumbent National Assembly members, making lecturer fee payment possible.

However, these regulations are merely the basis for conducting civil servant training and paying lecturer fees, and do not guarantee the legal compliance of individual lectures under the Public Official Election Act.

Article 9 of the "Public Official Election Act" prohibits civil servants and others required to maintain political neutrality from exercising undue influence on elections. Article 86, Paragraph 1, Clause 1 prohibits civil servants from promoting the achievements of specific political parties or candidates under the guise of education, and Article 85, Paragraph 3 restricts election campaigns using official acts within organizations of educational institutions and organizations.

Meanwhile, the assembly proceeded with this lecture after reviewing cases from other local governments, but as of this day, two days before the education, the assembly had not received a separate Electoral Commission official interpretation at the assembly level. It was only after reporting began that the assembly pursued inquiry with the Electoral Commission, according to investigation findings.

Regarding this, an assembly official stated, "This training is intended to promote King Jeongjo's people-centered ideology on the occasion of the 'Year of Suwon Visit,' and Rep. Kim was invited as a lecturer because he is an expert in the related field. This is similar to cases where the Sin'an County invited politicians such as Jo Guk (Innovation Party for Jo Guk, political party) and Song Young-gil (Democratic Party, Incheon Yeonsu B) to give lectures."

The official continued, "This is civility training recognized as continuous learning hours for civil servants, and lecturer fees were also budgeted according to the payment standards of the Local Government Human Resources Development Institute. This is not an event promoted by a specific political party, and the procedure for receiving Electoral Commission official interpretation is currently in progress."