President's Anger Over Forced Drinking: Severe Penalties Imposed on Perpetrators of 'Hellish Dinners'

Severe disciplinary actions have been taken against firefighters who coerced drinking, forced attendance at dinners, and engaged in workplace harassment related to the death of a firefighter in her 20s who took her own life after reporting workplace bullying.

The Jeonnam-Gwangju Fire Headquarters announced that it held a disciplinary committee and issued disciplinary measures against 15 firefighters whose misconduct was confirmed.

The headquarters handed down the highest possible disciplinary penalty for public officials, "dismissal," to two individuals whose misconduct was deemed severe.

In addition, 12 individuals received heavy disciplinary action, including demotion for 2 and suspension for 8, while the remaining 3 received minor disciplinary measures.

This disciplinary action comes one month after the Office for Government Policy Coordination requested reprimands.

The late Firefighter A, affiliated with the Gwangsan Fire Station under the Jeonnam-Gwangju Fire Headquarters, was found to have been forced to attend dinners 24 times over 15 months and pressured to drink heavy mixtures of alcohol such as bomb shots.

It was revealed that she continuously suffered from workplace bullying, including being forced to sit next to superiors during dinners and being pressured to use inappropriate terms of address such as calling them "oppa" (older brother).

Although the bereaved family raised the issue and requested an investigation, the Gwangsan Fire Station conducted only a formal check through an internal probe, concluded the case as "no specific findings," and ignored requests for inspection.

As the controversy grew, the Office for Government Policy Coordination launched a direct investigation. It was additionally revealed that following the victim's death, the fire headquarters obtained the victim's psychological counseling records without authorization, and selectively extracted and utilized only parts of the counseling content.

This incident came to light when Firefighter A was found dead in October of last year after reporting workplace bullying.

(Reported by Lee Hyeon-yeong | Video by Kim Na-on | Graphics by Yang Hye-min | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.