Justice Oh Seok-jun Nominee's Ruling in Focus... Dismissal of Bus Driver for 800 Won Embezzlement Deemed "Lawful"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Past rulings by Oh Seok-jun, Chief Judge of Jeju District Court (age 60, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 19), who was nominated as the first Supreme Court justice candidate under the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, are drawing attention.

According to the legal community on the 3rd, Judge Oh received significant social attention for rulings he made while serving as the presiding judge of the Administrative Division 1 at the Seoul Administrative Court. In 2011, he ruled that the dismissal of a bus driver by an express bus company for embezzling 800 won in December was justified.

According to the court and others at the time, Mr. A, who had worked as a bus driver for 17 years, was dismissed by the company in October 2010 for embezzling 800 won by paying only 6,000 won of the 6,400 won fare to the company and keeping the remaining 400 won on two occasions. The local labor commission and the central labor commission, which reviewed the case after Mr. A filed a relief petition, judged the dismissal to be unfair, stating that "the embezzled amount was small and bus drivers’ failure to pay change to the company was customarily tolerated and may have been misunderstood." The bus company filed an administrative lawsuit in objection to this decision.

The court ruled that "the trust that drivers would pay all the revenue they received to the company is fundamental to the trust between the bus company and the drivers," and that "the dismissal is lawful." It also added, "The company's net profit margin is about 7%, and 400 won out of 6,400 won is 6.25% of the fare, which constitutes most of the bus company's profit."

On the other hand, in February 2013, Judge Oh also ruled to cancel a disciplinary action filed by a prosecutor who was dismissed after receiving entertainment from a lawyer who took on a case he had investigated, stating that "the punishment is excessively harsh."

The prosecutor was dismissed in April 2012 for receiving entertainment worth approximately 850,000 won, including drinks, on four occasions at a nightlife establishment where illegal prostitution took place in 2009. The court stated, "The punishment is excessively severe and has lost significant validity according to social norms."

Judge Oh sparked controversy by issuing the first ruling that declared illegal a local government's ordinance restricting the operating hours of large supermarkets to protect small local businesses.

The Gangdong District Council in Seoul passed an ordinance in 2012 that imposed operating hour restrictions and mandatory closures twice a month on large supermarkets in the district, and the Gangdong District Office sent official letters requiring compliance from supermarkets in the area. Large supermarkets such as Lotte Shopping, E-Mart, and Homeplus filed administrative lawsuits seeking cancellation of the ordinance. The court ruled, "The ordinance is illegal as it deprives the discretion of the local government head."

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