False job ads in Korea: up to 5 years in prison and fines for changed terms

This guide is for employers who recruit staff in Korea and for people who apply to Korean companies. Two laws control job ads. The Fair Hiring Procedure Act punishes fake job ads and later changes to advertised terms, and the Employment Security Act punishes false recruitment ads by anyone who recruits workers. The rules below are current as of October 2026.

Who must follow these rules

The Fair Hiring Procedure Act (채용절차의 공정화에 관한 법률, often shortened to 채용절차법) applies to the hiring process of any business or workplace that regularly employs 30 or more workers (Article 3). It does not apply when the national government or a local government hires public officials.

The Employment Security Act (직업안정법) reaches further. Its Article 34 covers anyone who recruits workers under Article 28, which lets anyone who wants to hire recruit freely through ads, documents or online channels. Job placement agencies and labor supply businesses are covered too. Company size does not matter.

Four prohibitions in the Fair Hiring Procedure Act

Article 4 of the Act sets four rules for a recruiter (구인자).

For the three fine-based rules, the annex to the Enforcement Decree (시행령) sets the standard amounts: ₩3,000,000 for a first violation, ₩4,000,000 for a second and ₩5,000,000 for a third or later one. A violation counts as a repeat if the same violation was fined within the last 3 years. The authority may cut the amount by up to half, for example when the violation came from a minor mistake.

The first rule is a criminal offence. The other three carry administrative fines (과태료).

Recruiters may adjust a hiring process, but they may not change it to the applicant's disadvantage without a justifiable reason. The Act does not define a justifiable reason. Examples of unfavorable changes:

• advertising a five-day week and then requiring six days in the contract;
• advertising a manager-level post and then hiring the applicant at a lower grade.

What counts as a false job ad

A false job ad is one posted with no real intention to hire. The Act names two typical aims: collecting applicants' ideas and promoting the business. Article 4(1) says "for purposes such as" these, so other hidden aims can also count.

Typical examples:

• asking applicants to submit product improvement proposals and then using the ideas without hiring anyone;
• using a job ad to advertise products or services, for instance an academy that recruits course students, or a manufacturer that promotes and sells its own goods while posing as a recruiter.

Article 34 of the Enforcement Decree of the Employment Security Act lists four kinds of false recruitment ads, whether placed in newspapers, broadcasts, online, on signs or posters or by any other means:

1. ads that pretend to recruit while selling goods, recruiting course students, introducing jobs, arranging side jobs or raising money;
2. ads that hide the recruiter's identity (business name or personal name) for a false recruitment;
3. ads in which the job type, employment type or working conditions differ markedly from those at the time of application;
4. other ads whose important content is untrue.

A false ad under the Employment Security Act can bring up to 5 years in prison or a fine of up to ₩50,000,000 (Article 47). The Act also allows a reward for people who report violations (Article 45-3).

Portfolios, proposals and test work

The Act defines hiring documents (채용서류) broadly (Article 2):

• basic screening documents: application form, résumé and cover letter;
• proof documents: degree, career and qualification certificates and anything else that proves the facts in the basic documents;
• in-depth screening materials: portfolios, research results and any other item or material that shows the applicant's ability.

Under Article 4(4), you may not force applicants to hand over these documents or the intellectual property rights in them. The ban targets the demand itself, so a fine can apply even if no right was actually transferred. Intellectual property rights are rights, recognized or protected by law or treaty, over intangible assets with property value, such as knowledge, information, technology, expressions of ideas or feelings, business or product marks, plant varieties and genetic resources (Framework Act on Intellectual Property, Article 3).

Examples of forced transfers: a design company requiring copyright in applicants' portfolios, a company using applicants' improvement proposals in its business, and an employer claiming ownership of a translation done during an interview.

Reporting and inspections

Violations of the Fair Hiring Procedure Act can be reported on the website of the Ministry of Employment and Labor (고용노동부): open Civil Complaints (민원), then Online Civil Complaint Application (온라인민원신청), and search for the Fair Hiring Procedure Act report. You can also report to a regional employment and labor office (지방고용노동관서), whose head investigates and imposes the fines (Enforcement Decree, Article 6). False recruitment ads under the Employment Security Act can be reported to the Ministry, to the city, county or district office (시·군·구청) or to the police.

Regional offices also run inspection periods. For example, the Ministry's Gumi branch office announced an intensive inspection of workplaces with 30 or more workers from October 1 to November 20, 2026.

Tips for job seekers

The original article suggests these checks before you apply or attend an interview:

• For office, planning or administrative jobs, check the company's founding year, main business and number of employees, and ask exactly what your tasks will be.
• If an academy advertises jobs for its students, check whether the ad is really a way to sell courses.
• If the pay is far higher than the job suggests, check that the company is not a multi-level marketing business.
• If you are invited to an interview somewhere other than the office, ask to be interviewed at the workplace.
• For sales jobs, confirm how much is base pay and how much depends on results.

Checklist for employers

• Count your regular workers. At 30 or more, the Fair Hiring Procedure Act applies to your hiring.
• Post a job ad only for a real opening you intend to fill.
• Do not lower the advertised terms during or after hiring without a justifiable reason.
• Do not ask applicants to give up rights in portfolios, proposals or test work.
• Show your business name in every recruitment ad.