Gimpo City Official Dies After Complaints of "Traffic Jam"... Recognized as Duty-Related Death

Increased Vehicle Congestion Complaints Due to Road Pothole Repairs at End of February
Surge in Protest Complaints from Targeted Netizens
Public Official Found Dead... Recognized as Duty-Related Death After 9 Months

Gimpo City established a space to commemorate a public official who passed away last March after suffering from civil complaints. Photo by Gimpo City

A public official in Gimpo-si, Gyeonggi-do, who died after suffering from protest complaints, has been recognized as having died in the line of duty.

On the 3rd, Yonhap News reported, "The Ministry of Personnel Management recently held a Public Officials' Disaster Compensation Review Committee and recognized the death in the line of duty of Mr. A (37), a Grade 9 public official of Gimpo-si who passed away." Although the Ministry of Personnel Management did not disclose the specific reasons for recognizing the death in the line of duty, it is understood that they judged there was a causal relationship between Mr. A's work and his death. Following this decision, Mr. A's bereaved family will be able to receive survivor benefits. In April, Mr. A's family, together with Gimpo-si, submitted the necessary documents for the line-of-duty death application, including the survivor benefits application form, death investigation report, and supporting materials, to the Government Employees Pension Service. A Gimpo-si official told Yonhap News, "Following the recognition of the death in the line of duty, we are also proceeding with the special promotion process for Mr. A," adding, "We will do our best to restore the honor of the deceased."

Mr. A was found dead in a vehicle parked on a road in Seo-gu, Incheon-si, at around 3:40 p.m. on March 5. It was confirmed that five days before his death, on February 29, he was troubled by protest complaint calls when traffic congestion occurred due to pothole repair work on a road in Gimpo. The road repair work, which received a flood of complaints at the time, was pothole repair caused by abnormal weather due to rapid temperature changes, and it was confirmed that pothole repairs nationwide had increased by 56.8% compared to the previous year, indicating a serious situation. Gimpo-si also experienced a surge in pothole repairs and vehicle damage complaints from late January, and the city decided to proceed with the repair work to prevent additional accidents amid the serious situation of pothole reports.

However, from the start of the repair work on February 29 until 12:16 a.m. the next day, several related posts were made on a local community site, and incorrect information spread in the form of comments on these posts. In particular, during this process, a specific netizen posted a large amount of the deceased's personal information and repeatedly made complaint calls and posts, effectively encouraging group complaints through so-called 'pinpointing.' On the day, the duty office was also overwhelmed with complaint calls, and work paralysis continued until early the next morning. It was confirmed that many of the calls went beyond simple inquiries and included abusive and threatening remarks. Gimpo-si filed a complaint, and the police subsequently investigated and non-custodially charged two complainants who posted malicious comments on an online cafe with defamation and other charges under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection. They were sent to the prosecution.