This file photo provided by Hyundai Motor Group shows Hyundai Motor and Kia’s headquarters buildings in Yangjae, southern Seoul.
SEOUL, Nov. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — A whistleblower for exposing safety issues surrounding Hyundai Motor Co. and affiliate Kia Corp. automobiles will be awarded US$24 million.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced Tuesday that it will award $24 million to a whistleblower who exposed critical information about Hyundai and Kia’s branch office in the U.S.
Foreign media outlets reported that Kim Gwang-ho, a former safety engineer at Hyundai, was responsible for exposing Hyundai and Kia’s safety rule violations.
Kim had been working at Hyundai as an engineer for more or less 20 years, during which he discovered that Hyundai had failed to take proper measures to fix the defects found in its Theta 2 engine.
He then reported the issue to the NHTSA and the South Korean government in 2016.
In November of that same year, Kim was fired for leaking company information and violating internal security regulations.
Based on Kim’s information, the NHTSA fined Hyundai and Kia $81 million in November of last year.
Kim received a medal from the South Korean government for his role as a whistleblower. In 2019, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission awarded Kim with 200 million (US$168,910).
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
