"Because It Was Hard"... Postal Worker Who Disposed of 16,000 Mail Items Sentenced to Prison with Suspension

A former postal worker, Mr. A (37), who discarded over 16,000 pieces of mail in unauthorized places such as parking lots, citing the difficulty of his work, was sentenced to a suspended prison term.

According to the legal community on the 21st, Judge Kim Jae-eun of the Seoul Southern District Court Criminal Division 13 sentenced Mr. A, who was indicted for violating the Postal Service Act, to six months in prison with a two-year suspension.

A postal worker delivering mail. (Not directly related to the article content) / Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

Mr. A, a mail carrier belonging to the postal logistics department of the post office, was tried on charges of discarding a total of 16,003 pieces of mail, including periodicals, notices, bills, and promotional materials assigned for delivery, in nearby building parking lots and roadside walls in the Gangseo-gu area of Seoul from January 2021 to September 2022. It was understood that Mr. A discarded the mail due to stress from excessive workload as his colleagues around him entered self-quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing his workload.

The prosecution indicted Mr. A, stating that despite working in postal duties, he abandoned mail handled by the postal office without justifiable reason. According to the current Postal Service Act, anyone engaged in postal or letter delivery duties who opens, damages, hides, abandons mail or letters without justifiable reason, or intentionally delivers them to someone other than the recipient, shall be punished by imprisonment of up to five years or a fine of up to 50 million won.

Judge Kim stated, "The defendant abandoned the assigned mail over a long period without justifiable reason, thereby neglecting his primary duties as a postal official," and added, "Considering the duration of the crime and the amount of mail abandoned, the culpability is not light." However, he noted the sentencing factors, saying, "The defendant confessed to his crime, is a first-time offender, and was dismissed due to this incident."

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