South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Oct. 15 that it had paid a combined 46 million won (about $32,000) in special performance awards to 20 officials, citing achievements that included the response to scam-related crime in Cambodia and the handover of drug kingpin Park Wang-yeol.
Seven officials at the Korean Embassy in Cambodia supported the establishment and full operation of a joint Korea-Cambodia task force, backed cooperative investigations with local authorities and helped repatriate groups of fugitives abroad using chartered flights. Reports of Koreans falling victim to job scams and confinement fell to just 15 cases between January and July this year, down 94.2% from 258 a year earlier.
Four officials at the Korean Embassy in the Philippines secured the temporary handover of Park, an international drug offender, through continued negotiations and close cooperation with local agencies. The main suspect in the kidnapping and killing of the late Ji Ik-joo was also arrested. The officials were recognized for pressing local investigative agencies to make arrests and for setting out detailed procedures and safety measures for the transfer of suspects.
Three officials, including members of a rapid response team, received awards for helping bring home two Korean corporate employees who were kidnapped by a gang in Haiti in July and returned safely after about a month. Officials dispatched to the site led the safe return of all the Korean nationals through on-the-ground response and close coordination among relevant agencies, despite urgent and difficult conditions including severe security risks.
Officials were also recognized for building preventive safety systems to protect Koreans overseas. An official at the Korean Consulate General in Sapporo helped conclude an agreement, through continued talks with the local government, under which the city of Sapporo will provide disaster relief supplies free of charge to Koreans who take shelter at the consulate in the event of a major disaster. An official at the Korean Embassy in Mexico set up a temporary consular office in a World Cup host region and established emergency contact networks with local agencies, running a preventive, field-based consular assistance system that helped resolve about 50 incidents involving Korean nationals during the tournament.
An official at the Korean Embassy in Senegal helped repatriate in August the remains of a Korean deep-sea fisherman who died while working in West African waters in 1989 and was buried there, 37 years after his death. Officials at the Korean Consulate General in New York confirmed, through close cooperation between Korean and U.S. agencies, the identity of a Korean national who died in Maine in 2015 and had remained unidentified for about 11 years, and notified the bereaved family in Korea of the death.
An official at the Korean Embassy in Uzbekistan resolved delays in import certification for Korean home appliances and boilers, as well as problems with labeling rules for electronics safety standards, through talks with the local government, leading to a $7 million increase in exports and a $20 million recovery in sales. An official at the Korean Embassy in Panama held continued talks with agencies including the host country's audit board, helping recover $4.63 million in unpaid receivables tied to a power transmission network project that a Korean company had pursued for about three years.
The government runs the special performance award program to provide appropriate compensation to public officials who deliver outstanding results beyond the normal scope of their duties. The foreign ministry has granted the awards four times this year, in March, April, May and July.