"Gather up by 6 a.m. with everything"...I got a text message during Friday's rush hour. "Click."

Courtesy of Nonsan City Hall in Chungcheongnam-do = Yonhap News

Internal complaints are pouring out that hundreds of employees were forcibly mobilized for on-site maintenance when the venue was flooded due to rain during the "hard salted fish festival" in Nonsan-si, Chungcheongnam-do.

Nonsan City sent a text message to employees at around 5:57 p.m. on the 18th, which is last Friday, saying, "[Urgent] tomorrow morning's Ganggyeong Salted Fish Festival."

The message included an explanation that "the venue needs to be renovated due to the heavy rain today," and that "we will announce the work order of a third of all department officials, including each office of the city hall, and the eup/myeon/dong offices," instructing each department to pick up workers and pack personal supplies such as buckets and rip-offs.

It was announced that the work would begin at 6 a.m. on the 19th (Saturday), along with work details such as water removal, soil cover, and chair water cleaning, but the end time was not stated.

Nonsan City issued a separate press release about two hours after the text was sent, and Mayor Baek Sung-hyun ordered the reorganization and safety inspection of the festival site.

According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, the cumulative precipitation in Nonsan-si recorded 48.5mm per day on the 18th.

As a result, complaints are popping up among public officials. Despite the fact that it is not a disaster, the emergency mobilization order and the order to pump water through personal rip-offs are said to be particularly criticized.

In addition, it is known that calling out hundreds of people at dawn is too much, and complaints about the annual mobilization of festivals are also strongly raised.

With more than 350 government officials reportedly working for about four hours at the flooded venue, Nonsan City explained that employees can be mobilized according to civic safety and work importance, even if it is not a disaster.

Reporter Park Sun-young of Digital News Team