"Believed to be a Division Commander Encouragement Fund"... Military Officers Lose Disciplinary Cancellation Lawsuit

Court: "Behavior Not Befitting Character"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Military officers who were disciplined for receiving money from the owner of a restaurant affiliated with a military unit filed a lawsuit but lost.

On the 10th, according to the legal community, the Seoul Administrative Court Administrative Division 1 (Presiding Judge Jonghwa Ahn) ruled against five plaintiffs, including former and current Colonel A, in a lawsuit seeking to cancel a reprimand issued by the Capital Corps Command. The court pointed out, "The plaintiffs' act of receiving money as colonels cannot be considered behavior befitting the character of public officials as representatives of the people based on the standards of an average public servant."

In 2018, Colonel A and others attended a farewell party for the outgoing division commander and received an envelope containing 300,000 won in cash from B, the owner of a restaurant who was a friend of the division commander. It was investigated that the division commander encouraged them by saying, "Since I am giving it, it is okay to accept it." However, the money actually belonged to B. After this fact became known, Colonel A and others were reprimanded by the Capital Corps Command Disciplinary Committee and filed a lawsuit in objection. During the lawsuit, Colonel A and others claimed, "We received it believing it was an encouragement money given by the division commander," and "We did not receive a proper fact-finding investigation and were deprived of the opportunity to submit opinions, so there were procedural defects in the disciplinary action."

However, the court did not accept these claims. The court judged, "(The military personnel including Colonel A) could be part of the restaurant's customer base, and since the owner needs to go through the Military Facility Protection Review Committee to expand the business, there is sufficient possibility that cooperation from Colonel A and others could be expected." Furthermore, the court stated, "Even if it was difficult to go against the division commander's orders and they had no choice but to appear to accept the money at that moment, it is difficult to justify such behavior," and pointed out, "The plaintiffs could have returned the money received from B afterward." Colonel A and others only returned the money after the misconduct investigation began.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.