Some 6,749 forestry professionals affiliated with 1,663 forestry firms are suspected of not working full time at their registered firms or of illegally lending their credentials, an audit has found — including 184 who were deceased, incarcerated or living abroad at the time they were registered as active employees.
The Board of Audit and Inspection released the findings Monday as part of a regular audit of the Korea Forest Service.
Forestry firms are responsible for restoring areas damaged by wildfires and carrying out forest-tending projects. Under current law, forestry professionals must work full time at the firm where they are registered, a requirement designed to prevent shoddy construction on afforestation and other forest projects caused by an oversupply of firms.
An investigation of 16,970 forestry professionals registered with 2,229 forestry firms between 2023 and May this year found that 6,749 professionals at 1,663 firms may have been lending or misusing their credentials, according to the audit board.
Of those, 823 fell into a category suggesting they were not working full time — showing no enrollment in employment insurance or no earned income — while 1,534 were found to have earned income from companies other than their registered forestry firm, indicating possible dual employment.
An additional 4,307 professionals had employment insurance and income records but earned 800,000 won ($546) or less per month. That brought the total number considered unlikely to have been working full time — and therefore suspected of credential lending or misuse — to 6,664.
Separately, a field investigation based on personal information analysis found that 184 individuals — with some overlap — were in circumstances that made regular full-time work impossible, including those who had died, were serving prison sentences or were on extended stays abroad.
Forty-seven professionals remained registered with firms for more than three months after their deaths were officially reported, and nine of those were newly registered with firms after their deaths had already been recorded. The remaining cases included 25 who were incarcerated, 41 on extended stays abroad and 71 certified as requiring long-term medical care.
The audit board notified the Korea Forest Service to use the findings in an investigation into the registration and management of forestry professionals, and to take appropriate action — including revoking firm registrations — based on the results.
sang@heraldcorp.com
