"Over a Few Company Dinners" ... Civil Servant Who Posted Derogatory Comment About Deceased Firefighter Faces Lawsuit

[Financial News] A comment mocking a woman in her 20s who died after speaking out about workplace bullying has been posted on an anonymous internal bulletin board for civil servants, prompting a police investigation. Public outrage is growing over the secondary victimization of the deceased.

According to the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency and others on the 3rd, the bereaved family recently filed a complaint seeking punishment for the person who posted the derogatory comment about firefighter A, who was affiliated with the Gwangsan Fire Station in Gwangju.
The complaint reportedly states that comments were posted on the internal civil servants' board mocking the deceased firefighter A, including remarks such as, "Why is she making such a fuss over a few company dinners with her boss?" The family asked that the writer be punished on charges including defamation of the dead. Similar posts were reportedly uploaded anonymously to the board several times.
Police are investigating the identity of the commenter and the circumstances surrounding the post based on the complaint.

Meanwhile, A, a firefighter, died by suicide in October last year after reporting that she had been subjected to forced drinking and workplace bullying by her supervisors.
An investigation found that she had been forced to attend a total of 24 drinking company dinners over the 15 months before her death. At some of those gatherings, she was pressured to drink so-called "one-shot" bomb shots in a single gulp. In some cases, she was also forced to sit next to male supervisors, with remarks such as "Sit next to the section chief," and was subjected to degrading comments like "Call me oppa."
Following instructions from President Lee Jae-myung, the Office for Government Policy Coordination conducted an inspection. The findings confirmed most of the allegations of workplace bullying, including forced drinking within the organization, company dinners that lasted until dawn, the dismissal of the bereaved family's requests for an inspection, and the exposure of the victim's counseling records.
Based on the findings, the Office for Government Policy Coordination called for stern disciplinary action against 17 firefighters found to have engaged in misconduct. It also asked investigative authorities to look into two retired firefighters. The National Fire Agency (NFA) placed all 17 on standby leave.
newssu@fnnews.com Kim Su-yeon Reporter