Abuse of Power That Drove Bride-to-Be Firefighter to Death 'All True'

The workplace harassment that drove a firefighter, who was a bride-to-be, to her death was indeed the "worst," just as President Lee Jae-myung described it.

Far from holding anyone accountable, the tyranny of those in power—who ignored the bereaved family's demands for the truth and even inflicted secondary harm on the victim—has been laid bare through an investigation by the Joint Government Public Service Discipline Inspection Team under the Office for Government Policy Coordination.

According to the results of the joint government inspection team's investigation announced on June 24, a female firefighter, identified only as Fire Sergeant A (then 28), who took her own life in October last year, had been forced to attend a total of 24 drinking sessions over the 15 months leading up to her death.

Some of these gatherings continued until 2 a.m. the following day at venues such as karaoke bars and nightclubs.

At these drinking sessions, unreasonable demands that defied common sense were frequent, including orders to "sit between the chief and the division head," "greet the chief and accept a drink from him," and "just comfortably call me 'oppa' (older brother)."

She was also frequently mobilized for personal chores, such as setting tables and running errands during the funerals of the former chief's father and father-in-law, preparing for the chief's retirement ceremony which extended into the weekend, and driving her superiors' personal vehicles.

Some superiors even went so far as to blatantly demand that she buy alcohol or coffee for them when she went on overseas trips for vacation.

Their abuse of power did not stop even after Fire Sergeant A's death.

In an official personnel document regarding her discharge written after her death, the Gwangju Fire Safety Headquarters distorted the facts, making it appear as though "issues with her boyfriend (fiance)" were behind her death.

In the process, they unauthorizedly obtained her past psychological counseling records and cherry-picked only certain parts to use.

The official document, with the "edited" counseling results attached, was sent to 15 related departments in a state open to the public, sparking widespread outrage as it was exposed both internally and externally.

Even worse, the Gwangsan Fire Station, to which the deceased belonged, concluded that there were "no unusual circumstances" surrounding her death without conducting any investigation, despite requests from the bereaved family.

In particular, during the Gwangsan Fire Station's internal review, an absurd situation occurred where the department head, who had been pointed out as the perpetrator of the abuse, was put in charge of the actual investigation.

The city's fire safety headquarters, the higher authority, also wrapped up an investigation request received through "Red Whistle" (an anonymous reporting system) the month after her death by merely performing a perfunctory check of the Gwangsan Fire Station's internal investigation results.

A month later, even when Fire Sergeant A's fiance raised the issue, they showed an insincere attitude, stating, "We will investigate in the future if objective supporting evidence is submitted."

Subsequently, the city's fire safety headquarters left the case unattended for five months, without even reviewing whether to launch an inspection, until last month when the bereaved family visited the National Fire Agency, the higher-level authority.

The National Fire Agency, which was the last resort for the bereaved family, virtually washed its hands of the case, failing to conduct even face-to-face interviews with those involved for about a month until June 11, when the Office for Government Policy Coordination's inspection began after the case became public.

Lee Chang-seok, head of the national firefighter union, diagnosed the situation, saying, "This is an incident caused by the deeply rooted culture of 'generosity to superiors, harshness to subordinates' within the firefighting organization. The authoritarian, superior-centered culture and closed organizational atmosphere have allowed workplace bullying to go unchecked and made it difficult to even raise issues."

He added, "This will be recorded as a case where the firefighting organization, which protects the lives and safety of the public, failed to protect the human rights and dignity of its own internal members. Based on the fully revealed truth, both those responsible and those who participated must be severely punished to change these practices."

In connection with Fire Sergeant A's death, the Office for Government Policy Coordination decided to request disciplinary action from the National Fire Agency against a total of 17 individuals, including nine from the Gwangsan Fire Station, six from the city's fire safety headquarters, and two from the National Fire Agency headquarters.

It will also request a police investigation into two retired employees.

The Office for Government Policy Coordination, which discovered additional illegal acts such as gambling at the Gwangsan Fire Station during the inspection, also decided to request a police investigation into those matters.

(Photo: Courtesy of Gwangju Gwangsan Fire Station, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.