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GM Korea CEO Indicted After Illegally Hiring 1,700 Workers

The CEO of GM Korea, Kaher Kazem, was one of five executives indicted this week after the automaker illegally hired 1,719 laborers to work at its Bupyeong, Changwon and Gunsan plants.

According to The Korea Times, Kazem oversaw the hiring of 1,719 workers that were dispatched from various automotive suppliers to work at its vehicle production plants. These partner suppliers and GM Korea allegedly created a contract to hire the workers, but did so without first seeking permission from the Korean Minister of Employment and Labor. In total, 797 workers were dispatched to the Bupyeong plant from 14 different suppliers, while 774 were sent to Changwon from eight different suppliers. The Gunsan plant had the lowest number of dispatched supplier employees, with GM sending 148 workers there from two separate suppliers.

These illegal hires began on September 1st of 2017 and continued through to December of last year. Kazem first moved into his role as CEO of GM Korea in September of 2017. He previously led GM Uzbekistan and also served as the COO of GM India for a brief period.

These workers were allegedly in charge of “direct production processes” at the plant, which includes vehicle body prep, painting and assembly. GM Korea also made a contract for the employees to perform these tasks without contacting the dispatch company beforehand, Korean Times says, creating further legal trouble for the company.

In addition to the five GM Korea executives, 23 other people in charge of the partner companies that dispatched the employees have also been charged. Korea Times says the prosecution has also indicted the GM Korea corporation as a whole on the same charges. It’s currently not clear what kind of penalties charges of this type bring in South Korea – a country known for its highly regulated labor market.


GM currently builds the Chevrolet Trax, Chevrolet Malibu, Chevrolet Trailblazer, Buick Encore and Buick Encore GX at its Incheon plant, while Changwon handles production of the Chevrolet Spark and its export variants. The Gunsan plant closed down in 2018 but previously produced the Chevrolet Cruze and Chevrolet Orlando.Subscribe to GM Authority as we bring you the latest GM Korea news and ongoing GM news coverage.

Sam loves to write and has a passion for auto racing, karting and performance driving of all types.

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Comments

  1. Yet another reason to re-shore production back to the US. Assuming you don’t intend to do treacherous things here, you don’t have to worry about going to jail for creating jobs. No sympathy for companies that choose to off-shore jobs and get in bed with countries that trample their citizens.

    Reply
    1. That’s not true. According to korean press, kaher did a illegal action clearly. he needs to judge at court what he sow, and this is not make sense what you told.

      Reply
  2. Wow. Imagine going to prison because you didn’t ask the government for permission to gainfully employ 1,700 people.

    Reply

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