"Expulsion of Police Academy Trainee Who Mocked Peer as 'Ostracizing with All My Connections' Deemed Justified"

Grabbing the Collar, Pulling the Neck, and Using Profanity to Mock
Court: "Disciplinary Action Taken According to Dormitory Rules"

A trainee at the Central Police Academy who was expelled for repeatedly bullying a fellow trainee filed a lawsuit claiming the expulsion was unfair, but lost the case.

On December 25, Yonhap News reported that the Administrative Division 1 of the Cheongju District Court, presided over by Chief Judge Kim Seongryul, ruled against the plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by Mr. A seeking to overturn the expulsion order issued by the head of the Central Police Academy.

View of the Central Police Academy. Screenshot from the Central Police Academy promotional video.

Mr. A passed the national police recruitment exam in June 2024 and entered the Central Police Academy as a new police trainee. About a week after entering, Mr. A verbally abused fellow trainee Mr. B, who shared the same dormitory room, because Mr. B returned about five minutes late after a phone call. From that point on, Mr. A began to repeatedly bully Mr. B.

For about a month, Mr. A used profanity toward Mr. B an average of ten times a day, saying things like, "If I had met you in high school, you would have just been a staircase," and "I can use all my connections to ostracize you," continuously mocking him. In addition, whenever they encountered each other in the dormitory hallway, Mr. A would pull Mr. B by the back of the neck or deliberately bump into his shoulder, engaging in unpleasant physical contact. Mr. A also grabbed Mr. B by the collar or slapped his back in front of other trainees, and would freely take and consume drinks and food from Mr. B's locker without permission.

When these actions were discovered by the school, Mr. A was expelled three months after entering the academy. However, Mr. A contested the expulsion, claiming that the verbal abuse was just a joke and that the physical altercations were minor, and filed an administrative lawsuit against the academy, arguing that the expulsion was unfair.

However, the court did not accept Mr. A's claims and ruled that the expulsion was justified. The court stated, "Unless there are reasonable circumstances to consider the disciplinary action for the misconduct to be clearly unjust, it cannot be deemed an abuse of discretion by the administrative authority," and added, "The disciplinary action was taken according to the standards set by the dormitory rules, and given the nature of the misconduct, there is no reason to consider the expulsion excessive."