"Who Is Behind the Civil Servant Witch Hunt?" Reverse Witch Hunt... Excessive Personal Information Exposure

"Who Posted This?" Continuous Blame Posts Targeting Specific Individuals
Shock in the 'Public Service Community' Following Colleague's Death
Urgent Need for Fundamental Measures Over Malicious Complainants' Personal Information

The public service community was shocked after a civil servant affiliated with Gimpo City Hall was found dead amid malicious complaints and online witch hunts. In particular, despite the civil servant’s death following the online disclosure of personal information, there is criticism that the essence of the issue is being obscured as calls arise to disclose the identities of those who filed the complaints.

On the 6th, Mr. A, a civil servant from Gimpo City, Gyeonggi Province, who had been suffering from protest complaints and whose personal information was disclosed on an online cafe, was found dead inside a car. After news of his death spread, an 'inverse witch hunt' began online to identify the netizens who disclosed his personal information, sparking controversy. Especially, some online communities and blogs indiscriminately posted that among the netizens who disclosed Mr. A’s personal information and filed malicious complaints, there were education officials. Additionally, posts demanding the disclosure of faces and names, as well as calls to reciprocally disclose the identities of those who revealed Mr. A’s personal information, have been continuously posted.

News that a fellow public official, who had been suffering from protest complaints, made an extreme choice shocked the public service community in Gimpo City. Gimpo City has set up a memorial space and taken legal actions such as filing a police report.
[Photo by Gimpo City]

In particular, many critical posts were uploaded to the cafe that initially disclosed Mr. A’s personal information. Among them, one netizen posted a message titled “Everyone, please think carefully,” which further fueled the controversy. In this post, the author, Mr. B, said, “I sincerely mourn the deceased and offer my condolences. However, I hope people will be cautious when criticizing someone out of anger.” The “someone” he referred to is presumed to be the complainants who disclosed the deceased civil servant’s personal information and actively filed complaints.

Mr. B continued, “I understand the sorrow for the deceased, but now there are people mocking those who identified the targets and asking if they feel satisfied,” adding, “In my eyes, those who identified and posted the civil servant’s personal information and those who criticize them now look the same.” He also said, “Clearly, many people suffered due to administrative mistakes, and at that time, criticism was unavoidable,” and added, “I believe anyone who experienced that damage could have acted similarly.”

The reason Mr. B wrote this post is analyzed to be due to the ongoing secondary personal information exposure and inverse witch hunts. In particular, the personal information of the complainants who criticized the deceased civil servant and disclosed their information is rapidly spreading online.

'Inverse Witch Hunts' That Obscure the Essence Every Time an Incident Occurs

As Mr. B feared, such situations have repeatedly occurred whenever incidents like Mr. A’s death from malicious complaints became known. From the head of the Donghwa Tax Office complaint team to teachers at Seoi Elementary School and Howon Elementary School, the focus has been on finding the malicious complainants rather than on measures related to their deaths. Regarding this, a local government official said, “What we want is not for the malicious complainants’ identities to be disclosed and for them to suffer the same pain,” adding, “All civil servants want measures to be put in place to prevent such incidents from happening again.”

The Korea Government Employees' Union Federation (Gongnochoeng) held a press conference on November 6, 2023, near the Presidential Office in Yongsan-gu, urging measures to address malicious civil complaints against public officials.
[Photo by Asia Economy DB]

Another local government official also said, “Although malicious complaints became a serious social issue last year, there has been no change felt on the ground,” lamenting, “Even now, when malicious complainants verbally abuse us, we have to say, ‘Sir/Madam, I will record this’ to get consent before recording and find our own countermeasures.” He added, “Since we work with the mission to serve the public, I hope an environment can be created where we can do our best for good complainants and citizens.”

Meanwhile, Gimpo City plans to take legal action, including filing complaints, against netizens who filed malicious complaints and disclosed personal information in connection with Mr. A’s death. The city will also establish a memorial space for Mr. A within City Hall and propose to the central government to strengthen the civil servant complaint response manual and prepare comprehensive measures.

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