Junior Colleagues Harassed for 3 Years... Seniors Indiscriminately Assaulted Under the Pretext of a 'Birthday Punch'

Taking Commemorative Photos After Assault and Mocking in Group Chat Room

Office workers who tied a subordinate to a chair and beat him under the pretext of a "birthday punch" and even committed perjury against each other were heavily punished.

The photo is not directly related to the content of the article. [Image source=Pixabay]

On the 18th, Judge Na Sang-ah of the Gwangju District Court Criminal Division 10 sentenced Kim (age 40), who was indicted on charges of joint assault and perjury, to four months in prison with a one-year probation. Three other defendants charged with false testimony (perjury) were fined between 3 million and 5 million won. Kim had previously been confirmed in an appellate ruling to have assaulted the victim 14 times, including stabbing him with a needle used for equipment inspection, receiving a one-year prison sentence with a two-year probation.

Kim and others, who worked as section chiefs at a company in Gwangju, tied a subordinate who was celebrating his birthday to a laboratory chair with box tape in January 2022. They assaulted the victim under the pretext of performing the so-called "birthday punch," a harmful custom of beating the birthday person to celebrate. They were indicted for assaulting the victim dozens of times with a rubber hammer and fists.

Investigations revealed that the victim had been subjected to workplace bullying by Kim for three years since joining the company. After the assault, they took "commemorative photos" and shared them in a group chat, mocking the victim.

In Kim's previous trial, other defendants who were workplace colleagues appeared as witnesses and committed perjury by stating they had never seen the assault. However, after Kim, who was sentenced to prison in the first trial, confessed during the appeal, their perjury was exposed.

Judge Na explained the sentencing, saying, "Kim used his superior position in the workplace to lead the bullying of the victim," and "the other defendants either participated in the bullying and assault or committed perjury in court."

Meanwhile, according to data submitted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor to Rep. Kim Young-jin of the Democratic Party of Korea last year, since the revised Labor Standards Act including provisions on workplace bullying was enforced on July 16, 2019, a total of 26,171 related reports had been filed with labor authorities by the end of March last year. This means an average of 19.3 cases occurred daily.

The number of workplace bullying reports has steadily increased every year: 2,130 cases in 2019, 5,823 in 2020, 7,774 in 2021, 8,901 in 2022, and 1,543 cases from January to March 2023.