Civil servants who publicly use hate speech targeting foreigners or specific genders will be subject to dismissal. The disciplinary level for civil servants who neglect their duties will also be raised to at least a "pay cut" or higher.
The Ministry of Personnel Management said on the 23rd that it would give advance notice of a revision to the "Enforcement Rules of the Public Officials Disciplinary Decree" containing these measures. The revision takes effect on October 1 this year. Regarding the definition of hate speech, Chun Ji-yoon, director general of the Ethics and Service Bureau at the ministry, said at a briefing, "The revision clearly defines it as 'verbal or behavioral expression that incites violence or infringes on an individual's dignity on the grounds of race, nationality, gender, region, age, income level and the like.'" She explained, "However, hate speech on private social media and the like is not subject to punishment, and it is considered hate speech only when it meets requirements such as directly attacking someone."
Until now, related laws had no disciplinary standards for hate speech by civil servants, so there were limits to discipline, such as applying the "other items" category under violations of the duty to maintain dignity. Going forward, the government plans to apply separate disciplinary standards to public officials who seriously undermine their dignity by using hate speech, imposing discipline ranging from a minimum pay cut to a maximum of dismissal. It also decided to strictly manage punishment standards for hate speech by limiting disciplinary mitigation based on commendations.
Along with this, the disciplinary level for inaction, neglect of duty and passive administration misconduct will also be raised. Under the current disciplinary standards, inaction and neglect of duty misconduct were stipulated together with misconduct of a different nature, namely "disruption of accounting order," but these will be separated into a distinct category. The ministry also decided to strengthen the disciplinary level for this type of misconduct from a minimum of "reprimand" to a "pay cut." In addition, the revision made it possible to impose disciplinary responsibility on managers who neglect their supervisory duties over inaction and neglect of duty misconduct.
The minimum disciplinary level for passive administration will also be strengthened to a pay cut. Passive administration is a concept that includes cases where inaction infringes on citizens' rights and interests or causes losses to state finances.
Choi Dong-seok, minister of personnel management, said, "We will apply strict standards to public officials who evade responsibility through passive administration," adding, "Through strengthening disciplinary standards related to passive administration and hate speech, we will make active efforts to establish a public service culture that meets citizens' expectations and keeps pace with the times."
