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According to reports, in South Korea, the former chief executive of Kangwon Land Co., a local casino operator, began serving a three-year prison term after being found guilty of his involvement in an illegal employment scandal.

According to a report by Inside Asian Gaming, Choi Heung-jip was convicted  of being involved in a plan to positively coordinate job applications for candidates linked to former senior opposition politicians. Sources have detailed that the 70-year-old has now begun serving a three-year sentence after his subsequent appeal was rejected by a Chuncheon District Court last week.



Kangwon Land Co., Ltd. is owned by various government agencies and operates the 676-room Gangwon Land Casino, the only place in Korea where foreigners can gamble, and was sentenced to 10 months in prison and suspended for two years for denying the hiring of water and environmental experts.



The Inside Asian Games reported that the scandal involving the disbanded Liberty Korea Party lawmakers Yeom Dong-beol and Kwon Seong-dong is believed to have lasted five months since November 2012, and that they manipulated 50 job applications to make them look attractive.



Kangwon Land reportedly issued a statement in September 2019 that about 95% of the 518 employees hired between 2012 and 2013 were selected due to their connections to various "connected people," which was revealed when South Korean President Moon Jae In (pictured) began fighting corruption.



The judge who convicted Choi 18 months ago reportedly claimed that the former casino owner neglected his job as a "public agency head" because he accepted "outside solicitation" to facilitate "hiring certain people in the form of open recruitment" at the request of "powerful people."