Public Official Harassed by Malicious Complaints and Exposed Personally Dies... "Those Who Tormented Must Be Punished"

Gimpo City Hall Officer Found Dead on 5th
Public Official in Charge of Road Repairs
Personal Information Exposed on Online Cafe Leading to Malicious Complaints
Calls for Punishment Continue Despite Apology and Post Deletion by Admins

A representative of the Korean Government Employees' Labor Union Federation (Gongnochoeng) is holding a sign demanding punishment for malicious complaints. [Photo by Gongnochoeng]

A junior city hall official, whose personal information was disclosed after receiving complaints about traffic congestion caused by road repair work, was found dead. The online cafe that raised the issue and disclosed the official’s personal information apologized and deleted related posts, but criticism toward the cafe continues. Netizens are praying for the deceased while urging that those responsible for driving the official to death be punished.

According to the Incheon Western Police Station on the 6th, at around 3:40 p.m. the previous day, A, a 30-year-old Grade 9 public official from Gimpo City, was found dead in a vehicle parked on a road in Seo-gu, Incheon. Earlier, the police tracked A’s whereabouts after receiving a missing person report from family members who said, "We cannot reach A." It is known that A received complaints after traffic congestion occurred due to pothole repair work on a road in Gimpo on the 29th of last month.

On the online cafe, a netizen revealed that A was the official who approved the construction, disclosing his real name, department, and direct phone number, which led to a flood of complaints directed at A. The now-deleted posts on the online cafe included malicious comments such as "I want to grab this person’s collar who should be resting at home," "This is crazy. Blocking the second lane," and "What a crazy public official." After learning of A’s death, the cafe operator posted a notice saying, "We feel an indescribable sense of guilt and sorrow that our cafe was involved in this tragic news," and apologized, stating, "We judged the posts as simple complaints and did not recognize the doxxing and witch-hunt style comments." The operator added, "Both I and the management team are deeply sorry to the late official," and promised, "We will carefully monitor such posts and comments in the future to prevent such incidents from happening again."

A screenshot of comments criticizing Gimpo city officials on an online cafe. The comments have since been deleted.

However, netizens criticized those who sent malicious complaints and personal attacks to the junior official, saying they should be punished. Several posts were also uploaded on the Gimpo City Hall free bulletin board that day. One netizen wrote, "Even though the department contact information is clearly listed on the homepage, those who leaked and harassed the late official’s personal information must pay the appropriate price." Another netizen said, "As a citizen of Gimpo, I am sorry," adding, "This is a shameful act. I heard people are doxxing those bastards online; I will pray that they are punished."

Another netizen said, "It breaks my heart to think about the junior official, a newcomer to society, who must have been mentally exhausted from dealing with many complaints. I believe other public officials feel the same way," and added, "All public officials are like my family and children. I hope the city will establish measures to protect officials from complaints so that such incidents never happen again. I hope this message brings some comfort to the officials who endure heavy workloads and complaints."

Gimpo City is reportedly launching a fact-finding investigation, believing that A recently felt psychological burden due to malicious complaints related to work. However, the police stated that during the family investigation, a causal relationship between the complainants’ protests and A’s death has not yet been confirmed. A police official said, "No suicide note has been found," and "At this point, there is no evidence of criminal charges."

※ If you have difficult feelings such as depression or know family or acquaintances experiencing such difficulties, you can receive 24-hour professional counseling through the Suicide Prevention Hotline (TEL)1393, Mental Health Counseling (TEL)1577-0199, Lifeline (TEL)1588-9191, Youth Hotline (TEL)1388, Youth Mobile Counseling ‘Da Deureojul Gae’ app, KakaoTalk, and other services.