Last year, there were 545 cases of concurrent employment by civil servants in the ‘real estate rental business’… 7 times in 4 years↑

Rep. Yoo Sang-beom analyzes the status of concurrent positions at the Ministry of Personnel Management... 73% of those working concurrently at the National Tax Service are in the rental business.

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Yeon-jeong = The number of permits for government officials to concurrently work in the 'real estate rental business', which requires approval from the head of their organization to earn rental income outside of their main job, has increased seven-fold in the past four years.

According to data on 'Concurrent employment status by government department and type from 2021 to 2025' received from the Ministry of Personnel and Innovation on the 13th by Rep. Yoo Sang-beom of the People's Power Party, the opposition secretary of the National Assembly's Budget and Accounts Special Committee, last year, a total of 545 permits were granted for concurrent employment of real estate rental business by government officials in the executive branch. This is a 7.3-fold increase compared to 75 cases in 2021.

By year, it increased significantly from 75 cases in 2021, 194 cases in 2022, and 173 cases in 2023 to 455 cases in 2024, and then continued to increase to 545 cases last year.

The proportion of real estate rental businesses among the total number of concurrent employment permits for government ministries also increased by 8.3 percentage points (p) in four years, from 2.9% in 2021 to 11.2% last year.

By department, the increase was notable in the National Tax Service and the Ministry of Public Administration and Security.

The National Tax Service recorded 0 cases in 2021 and 2 cases each in 2022 and 2023, but the number increased to 36 cases in 2024 and 94 cases last year. Last year, 73.4% of the total concurrent employment permits (128) for public servants under the National Tax Service were in the real estate rental business.

The Ministry of Public Administration and Security also increased the number of approvals from 0 in 2021 and 1 each in 2022 and 2023 to 21 in 2024 and 69 last year.

As of last year, the Ministry of Intellectual Property (45 cases), the Ministry of Science and ICT (45 cases), and the Ministry of Employment and Labor (25 cases) had a large number of permits for simultaneous real estate rental business.

Current regulations related to the service and disciplinary action of national public officials classify the real estate rental business as a matter that requires careful review, and stipulate that it be approved after reviewing whether there is a decrease in job efficiency or conflict of interest through the concurrent position review committee of each agency.

Rep. Yoo said, “Even in the public service world, the increasing demand for side jobs for asset management or economic preparation is natural, but in the case of ministries with taxation, investigation, investigation, and crackdown authority, there is a need to establish clearer standards for prior verification to ensure there is no job connection or conflict of interest.”

He then ordered the Ministry of Innovation to “check whether the review of concurrent positions at each institution is being implemented substantively in accordance with the purpose of the system.”