A public official with the Yangyang County Office in Gangwon, who was brought to trial on charges of long-term assault and abuse against sanitation workers, was sentenced to prison.
The criminal division of the Sokcho branch of the Chuncheon District Court sentenced A, a 43-year-old driving-grade public official with Yangyang County who was indicted and detained on charges of coercion, habitual assault, intimidation, and insult, to one year and eight months in prison.
A was brought to trial for "gapjil" against three sanitation workers under his supervision while handling the operation of a garbage collection vehicle at a township office from July to November last year. He repeatedly carried out dozens of assaults, threats, and acts of coercion, and when stocks he held fell, he forced them to buy the same stock, or, saying the stock needed to rise, forced the use of red-colored items.
He also engaged in grotesque acts such as playing a hymn, making the sanitation workers get under a blanket, and then stepping on them in a "martial law game," and forcing them to call him "guru."
During the trial, A admitted the charges and pleaded for leniency, but the court handed down a prison sentence.
The court said, "Based on the defendant's confession and the evidence submitted by the prosecutor, all the charges are found guilty," and noted, "Given the number of offenses and the methods used, the nature of the crime is poor."
The court added, "We considered that the defendant has no prior criminal record and deposited a certain amount for victim compensation, and that the victims refused to accept the deposit."