KRA’s Official Commits Suicide Pending His Role in Laying-Off

At around 11:50 a.m. on August 14, 2002, Kim Chong Shin (45), the auditing bureau chief of Korea Racing Association (KRA), plunged himself from the fifth floor of the Seoul Race-track stadium’s stand to the 15m below 2nd floor. He died on the spot.

Mr. Kang (62), who witnessed the jumping, described, “A man in suit was hanging from the handrail of the fifth floor of the stand. Then he dropped from there. I rushed to the scene and found the man lying with blood coming out of his head.”

Chief Kim’s original position was project manager. On September 17, 1998, just before the restructuring of the KRA, he assumed the office of human resources manager and has been in charge of the restructuring, which started in earnest thereafter.

From March 20 to March 22 (A1, A3, etc.) this year, citing the internal documents of the KRA, our paper reported that employees were laid off due to their personal relationships and political views. Soon after the report, those laid-off employees filed a criminal complaint against Kim and former Chairman Oh Young-woom alleging that they violated the Labor Standard Act. Accordingly, the Prosecutors’ office has conducted a probe into the charge.

Kim had also been the target of an investigation being conducted by an internal committee of the KRA. The committee consisted of representatives of the unions and the management and has been probing into the illegal layoff.

One committee member who interrogated Kim said, “Kim, during the investigation, repeatedly said he ‘wants to die. The past three years were really hard for me. It was tough for me to deny my consciousness.’” He continued, “I brought him to a Prosecutors’ Office since he said he would tell the truth before a prosecutor.”

Before the committee, Kim stated, in early September of 1998 right before the restructuring, that he had discussed who should be laid off with Mr. Cho, then associate manager of the project team, the union chairman and Mr. Lee, then a high-ranking secretary. He also stated that those 10 employees discussed were included in the final decision.

Kim reportedly further said, “I sincerely feel responsible for the wrongfully conducted layoff. I also feel remorse and regret over the hardship the laid-off workers had to undergo. I regret what I did and wish in the future this misfortune would never happen again in our organization.”

The police are conducting a probe into the motive of his suicide. Kim is survived by his wife and a daughter (16), a first year student in high school.

Hoon Lee dreamland@donga.com