2026.10.05. The Fair Economy — Claims have emerged that Incheon City Secretary-General Jeon Gi-eun sent a condolence account in her own name to reporters and others while notifying them of her grandmother's death, raising the possibility of violating the public official code of conduct and the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act.
On the 4th, the Incheon Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice urged an investigation into the circumstances and recipients of Jeon Gi-eun's condolence notice and a verification of any violation of the public official code of conduct.
The key regulation cited is the public official code of conduct. The code generally restricts public officials from notifying work-related persons or work-related public officials of personal events such as weddings and funerals.
Notifying others of such events is not prohibited in all cases; exceptions include relatives, current or former colleagues at one's affiliated agency, and notifications made through newspapers or broadcasting. The key issues to verify are who exactly the former chief of staff sent the death notice to, whether those individuals qualify as job-related parties, and how the notification was delivered.
The separate provision of a condolence account could also raise issues under the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act. The act restricts public officials from receiving money or goods in connection with their duties, and separate limits apply to condolence money.
If a person with a job‑related connection to the former chief secretary actually sent condolence money via the account, the amount, job‑relatedness, and circumstances of the receipt must be examined. Sending the account number alone does not automatically constitute a violation of the Anti‑Graft Act, but if actual condolence money was received, a separate legal assessment is required.
In particular, the claim that the condolence money account was under the former chief secretary's name is central to the controversy. While typical condolence notices focus on the deceased's family relations, the inclusion of an account in the former secretary's name raises the need to verify whether recipients were expected to send condolence money to that account.
If the actual amount received and the list of senders are confirmed, it will be possible to specifically determine whether condolence money was provided by a job‑related person and whether it falls within permissible limits.
The Incheon Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice also argued that an investigation should determine whether Incheon City's lists or personal information were used in the process of sending the obituary notice. If contact information or administrative data obtained by the city for work purposes was used for personal event notifications, the purpose of the personal information use and its legal basis must be separately examined.
It is also necessary to confirm whether public officials' working hours or public agency systems and budgets were used for sending the text messages.
Jeon was appointed as a Grade 4 Chief of Staff on July 1, the day Incheon Mayor Park Chan-dae took office as the 9th elected mayor. She is known as a close aide who served as his legislative assistant when he was a member of the National Assembly.
Incheon CLEJ demanded that the Incheon City Audit Office and Mayor Park Chan-dae conduct a comprehensive investigation into the recipients and circumstances of the death notice, verify whether the Public Official Code of Conduct was violated, investigate the legality of personal information use, and confirm whether public budgets and administrative resources were utilized.
Since this is a matter that requires separate examination under both the public official code of conduct and the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act if notification of work-related persons and actual receipt of condolence money are confirmed, attention is focused on the audit results.
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