A person in their 30s accused of causing a disturbance in an ambulance and assaulting paramedics was fined.
According to legal sources on the 15th, Director General Lee Jae-uk, the sole judge of Criminal Division 3 at the Ulsan District Court, fined a person surnamed A 5 million won on charges of violating the Act on 119 Rescue and Emergency Medical Services.
On an evening in September last year, a person surnamed A reported to 119 from a road in Ulju County, Ulsan, saying, "I fell and injured my ankle." After boarding the ambulance, the person surnamed A pointed fingers and shouted at the paramedics and caused a disturbance by tearing off emergency equipment inside the ambulance.
When the paramedics told the person, "Get out of the ambulance," the person surnamed A punched two paramedics in the face and grabbed them by the collar and shook them. The person surnamed A was said to have committed the offense while intoxicated.
The court said, "The person surnamed A obstructed rescue activities for no particular reason," but also noted, "We took into account that the harm to the victims was not great and that family and coworkers petitioned for leniency," and imposed a fine of 5 million won.
According to the 2025 National Fire Agency statistical yearbook, there were a total of 1,243 cases of assaults against paramedics over the past five years (2020–2024). However, 40% (494 cases) of assault incidents ended with fines, meaning most offenders received fines. Only about 8.8% (109 cases) resulted in prison sentences. The rest were other dispositions such as "no right of prosecution."