Korail reinstates employee fired for looking up BTS star’s info
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BTS leader RM is known to be an avid art collector who often shares photos of himself travelling by train to visit galleries.
PHOTO: RKIVE / INSTAGRAM
SEOUL – A Korea Railroad Corp. employee who was fired for looking up personal information
The National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) on Dec 14 ordered the state-run railway operator to give back the female employee’s job, along with reimbursement for wages that she would have made if she had not been fired in April, according to the Democratic Party of Korea’s Representative Kim Doo-kwan, who got a copy of an NLRC report.
The Korail employee filed an unfair dismissal claim to the commission over the dispute, which initially ruled against her. But the decision was overturned last week.
“Korail had not fired employees in other cases related to breach of personal information, and it is unfair for just this specific employee to be fired”, the commission was quoted as saying.
The commission also pointed out that the mass media coverage, which was cited by Korail as one of the reasons for firing her, was more due to the BTS’ pop star, RM’s, popularity rather than the gravity of her wrongdoing. RM, whose real name is Kim Nam-joon, is the leader and rapper-producer of the Korean boy band BTS.
It was reported in March that a Korail employee had looked up RM’s booking details and personal information, including his address and mobile phone number, from the system. The employee had looked up his information 18 times since 2019, which she said was done “out of personal curiosity”. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
