"Sunbathing During Work Hours" "Female Suspect Called to Karaoke"… Coast Guard Discipline Under Scrutiny

464 Employees Disciplined Over 5 Years

A coast guard officer who was disciplined for various misconducts, such as going up to the rooftop during working hours to apply oil on his body and tanning, and repeatedly calling foreign women to karaoke rooms under the pretext of investigation, has been revealed to have exceeded 460 cases in the past five years.

According to data received by Democratic Party lawmaker Lim Mi-ae from the Korea Coast Guard on the 2nd, the coast guard took a total of 464 disciplinary actions over the past five years from 2020 until last August, Yonhap News and others reported on the same day.

Looking into the disciplinary cases, the leader of Team A at a frontline coast guard station was found to have gone up to the rescue team's rooftop several times during working hours in 2022, stripped off his clothes, applied oil on his body, and tanned for 2 to 4 hours. He habitually verbally abused his subordinates and made them run personal errands. Eventually, one victim employee, who suffered continuous harassment from the team leader, left a suicide note implying that meeting the team leader had ruined their life and took an extreme measure.

Coast guard officer B was caught last year after repeatedly calling a Vietnamese female suspect to karaoke rooms late at night under the pretext of investigation. B also demanded meals from representatives of seafood processing companies related to his duties, using crackdowns on illegal foreign residents as a pretext.

Another officer C, belonging to a regional maritime office, from February to July last year, assigned a subordinate to attend 32 hours of cyber lectures on his behalf and frequently demanded that the subordinate pluck his gray hairs. He also forced the subordinate to buy camping equipment worth 250,000 won that he used and made the subordinate check the number of guests and guide them at his wedding ceremony.

The main reasons for disciplinary actions were ▲neglect of duty 67 cases (14.4%) ▲drunk driving 54 cases (11.6%) ▲sexual crimes and sexual misconduct 47 cases (10.1%) ▲unfair acts using superior position 47 cases (10.1%) ▲acceptance of money and entertainment 23 cases (5.0%). Disciplinary actions for misconduct included 15 cases of dismissal, which is a severe penalty stripping public official status, 36 cases of removal, 40 cases of demotion, 109 cases of suspension, 126 cases of pay reduction, and 138 cases of reprimand.

Lawmaker Lim pointed out, "This shows how poorly the coast guard manages its organization," and added, "The system should be improved to strengthen the ethical awareness of coast guard employees."