▲ Nurse
"When a new recruit comes in, I can burn them until they are nothing." This is the verbal abuse that the late Kang (27), a nurse who passed away at her home on June 2, reportedly heard from a senior nurse while working at a hospital in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, according to her bereaved family.
Kang’s mother, Kim, burst into tears during a phone call with the media on July 7 while describing the "taeum" (workplace bullying) her daughter had endured.
"Taeum" is a slang term in the nursing industry that refers to a culture where seniors harass and torment newcomers under the guise of training.
The term is known to be derived from the expression "burning someone until they turn to ash."
"My daughter told me that while she was entering data, a senior nurse who was playing games on her phone behind her mentioned the 'nothingness' caused by taeum, as if she wanted my daughter to hear it," Kim said. "When my daughter came home that day, she was trembling and sobbing, saying, 'I don't even know how I finished my shift.'"
Kang did not struggle with hospital life from the beginning.
According to her mother, Kang joined the hospital in February 2023 and was assigned to the emergency room.
The family explained that she was quick to learn her duties and adapted well to the field, earning praise from her seniors.
Kang, who had dreamed of becoming a nurse after attending a lecture by a professional nurse during her third year of high school, went on to study nursing in college and secured a job immediately after graduation.
"My daughter was such a diligent student that her professors wrote letters of recommendation for her, and after she started working, she performed so well that seniors praised her, saying things like, 'We got an ace' and 'Just keep doing what you're doing,'" Kim said. "It was a time when she worked happily, even amidst the hectic schedule."
However, the family claims that Kang began experiencing taeum about two months after she started working.
Kim explained that the incident began when an on-duty doctor offered to buy drinks for the nurses and asked Kang, the youngest, to take the orders.
A senior nurse took issue with the fact that Kang was sitting on a common, backless round stool found in the hospital while taking the orders.
"One of the people who usually led the bullying asked, 'Does it make sense for someone with her experience to be sitting there?' and that was the first instance of harassment," Kim said.
Kim claims that the bullying against Kang intensified thereafter.
"My daughter said that after the drink incident, her greetings were frequently ignored by seniors," Kim said. "She confided that she was often criticized for different ways of handling tasks, and when she asked questions in an effort to do better, she was either scolded or ignored entirely."
The family explained that starting in May of that same year, Kang appealed to the head nurse, the leader of the nurses, several times, but nothing changed significantly other than a temporary adjustment in her work schedule for about two months.
"My daughter was depressed, saying, 'I can't do things I'm usually good at because I feel intimidated in front of that senior (the person identified as the perpetrator of the bullying),'" Kim said. "Then, she was deeply shocked after hearing the remark, 'When a new recruit comes in, I can burn them until they are nothing.'"
Kim had suggested that her daughter quit, but Kang wept and said, "Mom, I didn't do anything wrong. I really love this job. I want to continue being a nurse. And I don't want to run away."
The family stated that Kang, who continued to endure the hospital life despite her suffering, finally submitted her resignation in March of last year after being severely reprimanded by a senior for a medication dosage error while treating a patient.
After leaving the hospital, Kang filed a complaint with labor authorities regarding workplace bullying.
Kim said that afterward, Kang complained of severe psychological distress, and even while under the care of her family, she continued to attempt to harm herself.
The family reported that Kang eventually received psychiatric treatment and was even admitted to a closed ward.
"She was a child who had never received psychiatric treatment before becoming a nurse," Kim said, unable to continue.
In September of that year, labor authorities determined that workplace bullying was substantiated for one of the three people identified as perpetrators of taeum against Kang and ordered the hospital to take corrective measures.
However, the labor authorities only determined whether bullying had occurred and left the specific level of corrective action to the hospital.
In March of this year, Kang was also recognized as having a work-related illness (severe depressive episode) by the Occupational Disease Judgment Committee.
However, Kang passed away on June 2 without recovering from the trauma.
"Please help so that my daughter's death is not in vain and that such taeum incidents never happen again," said Kim, who wept throughout the interview. "She spent her final days only in bed, feeling resentful and saying, 'My life is ruined, yet the perpetrators are living happily.'"
Meanwhile, the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency has formed a 20-member investigation team at the Metropolitan Special Investigation Unit to handle Kang's case.
The police are accelerating their investigation by analyzing the one year's worth of diaries left behind by the deceased and calling in the bereaved family and friends as witnesses.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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