President Denounces 'Worst Abuse of Power' in Firefighter Forced Drinking Case

President Lee Jae-myung criticized the incident where a female firefighter was forced to drink and subjected to workplace bullying as the “worst abuse of power” during a State Council meeting at the Blue House on the 23rd. The President urged for preventive measures to ensure such an incident never happens again, now that the facts have been confirmed.

President Lee pointed out that the Gwangju Fire Department failed to conduct an investigation for over five months into the death of a female public servant belonging to the Gwangju Gwangsan Fire Station due to workplace bullying. The President commented, “The problem is that they don’t recognize it as a serious act,” adding, “There was a tendency to think, ‘That’s something that can be done.’”

He cited specific examples of abuse of power, such as seating female employees next to their superiors, making female staff pour drinks, and forcing them to attend second-round gatherings where they were made to down shots. He urged all ministries and agencies to conduct internal organizational reviews to prevent workplace abuse of power from recurring.