Firefighters in Jeonnam-Gwangju Placed on Leave for Playing Hwatu at Integrity Workshop

Five firefighters in the Jeonnam-Gwangju region have been placed on leave for playing Hwatu (flower card) gambling during a workshop aimed at improving integrity.

According to the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Metropolitan Fire Headquarters today (September 15), the headquarters placed five former Gwangju Fire and Disaster Headquarters firefighters on leave.

This follows a National Fire Agency inspection conducted for about a month starting August 12, which confirmed the suspicions of gambling to be true.

The National Fire Agency confirmed that they engaged in speculative activities using Hwatu cards while staking tens of thousands of won at the workshop, and has reportedly requested severe disciplinary action against them.

Initially, six firefighters were inspected over gambling suspicions, but one of them was already dismissed and excluded from the leave order due to misconduct related to the case of a female firefighter who died after complaining of workplace harassment.

Last month, suspicions regarding their gambling were raised through the fire headquarters' anonymous whistleblower system. Because the inspection personnel were involved in the matter, the fire headquarters requested an inspection from the National Fire Agency without conducting its own investigation.

An official from the fire headquarters said, "As the gambling suspicions have been confirmed through the inspection, we plan to soon convene a disciplinary committee to determine the specific level of discipline for them."
 
(Photo: Provided by National Fire Agency, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.