Korea Food Research Institute Leaves Key Deposit Uncollected for 7 Years as Employee Uses It to Buy House

An audit has revealed that the Korea Food Research Institute, affiliated with the Ministry of Science and ICT, failed to retrieve 70 million won in key money (jeonse deposit) provided to a dispatched regional employee for over seven years, and that the employee used the unreturned funds to purchase an apartment.

According to the comprehensive audit report released by the National Research Council of Science & Technology (NST) audit committee, the research institute provided and managed 70 million won out of a 220 million won jeonse deposit for an employee, identified as A, who was dispatched to the Gangneung laboratory in Gangwon Province in 2016 for rental support.

Although the use of the funds was restricted to a rental deposit and the lease agreement required the landlord to deposit the money directly back to the research institute upon expiration, employee A failed to return the funds to the research institute after the jeonse contract ended in 2018.

According to the audit results, after receiving the full jeonse deposit back from the landlord into their own account, employee A continued to use the funds for a jeonse deposit on another apartment in the same complex without going through any consultation or approval procedures for a support extension.

Moving apartments three times in this manner, the employee continuously used the rental deposit without any consultation or approval from the research institute.

Meanwhile, due to a lapse in handovers regarding the rental deposit, the Korea Food Research Institute completely failed to manage the funds, such as checking whether the deposit had been deposited or taking measures for its return.

Subsequently, in 2023, employee A purchased the apartment they were living in for 430 million won, using the 70 million won provided by the research institute as housing purchase funds.

After completing the ownership transfer in 2025, when the research institute requested confirmation regarding contract expiration or changes, employee A gave a false response stating that "only the address was changed" and submitted an invalid lease agreement, thereby submitting a false report.

When the audit began, employee A sold the apartment for 405 million won and repaid the 70 million won rental deposit in four installments.

Employee A also expressed willingness to faithfully pay any delayed interest if billed.

While the employee claimed to have mistaken the rental deposit for accommodation support and that hiding the purchase was due to administrative ignorance, the audit committee concluded that there was intent, noting that the employee had signed a fact-confirmation document regarding the "rental deposit" restrictions and had responded by attaching a lease agreement that had lost its legal validity.

Consequently, the audit committee demanded a heavy disciplinary measure, equivalent to suspension, for employee A.

The comprehensive audit also uncovered cases where the Korea Food Research Institute, a government-funded research institute, operated lifecycle-based training leaves such as sabbatical leaves despite lacking the authority to do so, while falsely reporting to its supervisory agency that it did not operate such leaves.

Between 2022 and 2024, 18 employees scheduled for retirement used sabbatical leaves at the institute, with the maximum leave taken by a single employee reaching 209 days.

In addition, cases were uncovered where proper deliberation committee procedures were omitted during the payment of technology fee compensations.

(Photo provided by Korea Food Research Institute, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.