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Suspicion of 220 Million Won Embezzlement by Secretary-General of SeAH Steel Pohang Plant Labor Union

[비즈한국] Allegations of embezzlement of union dues have been raised against the leadership of the SeAH Steel306200 Pohang plant labor union, which is affiliated with the FKTU (Federation of Korean Trade Unions). As the embezzlement of union dues—which are public funds—could severely damage trust in the labor union, the fallout is expected to grow.

According to the steel industry on the 21st, some members of the SeAH Steel Pohang plant union plan to file criminal complaints against the leadership, including Union President A, for embezzlement, and also initiate civil lawsuits for damages. This follows the revelation that the union's bank account balance, which should have contained a total of 220 million won—comprising 170 million won in the "dispute fund" special account and 60 million won in general "union dues"—was only 4 million won.

This fact came to light after Secretary-General B, who oversaw the union's affairs, took their own life on the 13th. After taking over the union account managed by Secretary-General B, the union leadership disclosed the transaction history, claiming there were no issues with the accounts up to the third quarter of this year. It is reported that the auditor in charge of accounting had discovered in the first quarter of this year that the principal and interest were not recorded separately in the special account, but only gave Secretary-General B a verbal warning to rectify the issue moving forward.

Some union members point to the union's accounting regulations, arguing that the entire leadership is responsible for negligence in management. Article 17 of the Union Accounting Regulations (Responsibility of Accounting Personnel) stipulates that budget executors and cashiers must compensate for financial losses unless they can prove that they acted with the care of a prudent manager. Here, the budget executor and cashier is the secretary-general. However, some union members emphasize that because the secretary-general is appointed by the elected president, the president's responsibility is also significant.

One union member raised their voice, stating, "As members' trust has been severely undermined by this embezzlement case, the current leadership needs to take responsibility for this situation in an organized manner." Regarding this, a representative of the union leadership remained cautious, saying, "We would like to resolve this quietly internally."

The current leadership stated, "Under the regulations, the legal person responsible is clearly defined as the secretary-general, so the union has already filed civil and criminal lawsuits against the bereaved family of the deceased secretary-general."