The former CEO of Kangwon Land, the only casino in South Korea that allows locals to gamble, has been sentenced to three years in prison for orchestrating an illegal jobs scheme.
According to GGRAsia, in 2019 Choi Hung-jib was found guilty of hiring hundreds of staff members based on their political and internal connections. He appealed, but last month the Chuncheon District Court upheld the conviction. The 70-year-old was immediately remanded in custody, according to a report by Yonhap News Agency.
Two members of South Korea’s opposition Liberty Korea Party, Kweon Seong-dong and Yeom Dong-yeol, were indicted in July 2018 for their part in the hiring scandal. They allegedly manipulated interview scores so the preferred candidates would get the jobs.
Kangwon Land admitted the ruse, saying in 2012 and 2013 it hired 493 people—about 95 percent of all new hires—due to their connection to “influential people.”
