"Dismissal Cancellation Lawsuit of 'Naranoye' Abusive Remarks Ministry of Justice Director Wins Again in Second Trial"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] A Ministry of Justice official who was dismissed for making abusive and sexually harassing remarks to subordinates won again in the appellate court in an administrative lawsuit claiming that the dismissal was unfair.

The Seoul High Court Administrative Division 7 (Presiding Judge Taehwan Seo) ruled in favor of the plaintiff on the morning of the 18th in the lawsuit filed by former Ministry of Justice Human Rights Policy Division Chief Oh against the Minister of Justice to cancel the dismissal, just as in the first trial. Earlier, in early 2019 while working at the Ministry of Justice, Oh was suspected of making abusive remarks to employees such as "The country's slaves have become too lax" and "Those with short educational backgrounds should study more." There were also allegations of sexually harassing remarks, including "Handsome legal officers are never assigned to our division."

After the allegations surfaced, the Ministry of Justice launched an investigation and inspection. Oh admitted to some of the remarks during this process but explained that the specific content was different from what was reported and that the context and intent were misunderstood. However, based on the inspection results, the Ministry of Justice received a dismissal decision from the Central Disciplinary Committee of the Ministry of Personnel Management in January of that year and immediately dismissed Oh. Oh filed a lawsuit challenging this decision. The first trial had previously ruled in favor of the plaintiff, judging that the disciplinary action against Oh was inappropriate.

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